A Month of Madness; My First Perfomance! AUDT Freshman, Alexandra

What a month!! And what a night! We have finally had our first official performance of the 2010-2011 season! For the past month, we have worked long and hard on the most skill-heavy and physically demanding American Madness routine to date. And tonight, all the time and effort we put into it has paid off; it was fantastic!

After about a month into the season, I realized that the American University Dance Team was going to be a lot more than I bargained for. Back in high school, I took dance classes for about 4 hours a week, at MOST. I am now practicing 10 hours a week, and that's considered short! With games and fundraising events thrown into the mix, dance team takes up most of my free time. It was very difficult for me to get into this new schedule. I really struggled, and I got down on myself a lot early on because I didn't feel as experienced or as "good" as everyone else. But I would've never been able to get through it all if it weren't for the unending support and friendship of the girls on the team. Almost all of us have only known each for a few months, some even less than that, and it really feels like they are already my best friends. If it weren't for them, I don't know if I would've been able to make it this far!

For the past two days, I have been shaking in my boots. I never get nervous when it comes to performing in front of people. And for some reason, I wanted to puke about three minutes before we had to go out and perform tonight. The team and I have all worked so hard on this American Madness routine, and I was so scared that after all of our hard work, I was going to mess something up. But once I stepped out on the floor and saw all of the cheering fans, I couldn't help but smile. I realized that even though this dance team is more difficult, strenuous, and time consuming than any other type of dancing I have done in my life, it all leads up to the same thing - the final performance. When you're standing in front of your peers in your your final pose, out of breath, and the crowd is cheering for you; that moment makes it all worth it. Knowing that you put your all into something you love so much so that other people can enjoy it too; that's what we do. That's what dancing is all about. And that's why I'm here.

So, here's to the start of a new generation of AU Spirit, and to many more fantastic performances to come!

Much Love,

Alexandra