The Last Time

From the time I was a child until my last year of college, dance consumed me. I scheduled my life around technique classes, rehearsals, costume fittings and performances—and I loved it. I couldn’t fathom a day when I wouldn’t perform anymore.

But here I am, sitting at a desk, not having danced on a stage in almost three years.

It’s funny, when I look back on my last performance—a Nappytabs-choreographed hip-hop routine at a college basketball game—I realize that I had no intention of that being my final performance. I knew I was moving to NYC to start and internship with Dance Spirit, but it was NEW YORK CITY! Of course I would continue to perform.

But I haven’t.

I still love taking class at Broadway Dance Center and Steps, but it’s just that—class. So, my questions to you is, how do you know when you’re done performing? Do you plan your final performance knowing that you’ll never perform again? Or does it just kind of happen?

I do know one thing: Dance will always be a part of me. Nothing can replace the feeling of being “home” that floods over me every time I put on my dance clothes and step into an empty studio. I may never perform again (although I’m still not convinced!), but I will continue to dance—in my teeny-tiny apartment, in the office, at the studio, down the aisles at the grocery store— and I’ll never stop.