(Note: this post has very little, if nothing, to do with Luke and is quite lengthy, but I needed to reflect and get my thoughts out - feel free to stop here if you'd like!)
As you can see from many posts on here, Lucas like to dance. I like to dance too. And for 18 years, dance was a HUGE part of my life. I loved it!
I am so thankful to my parents for sending me to The Dance Center when I was 4 years old. I don't really remember way back then, but I can only assume that I didn't kick and scream when they dropped me off. I have a feeling I loved it from the beginning. Dancing was fun!
I was lucky enough to compete in a group for awhile. Many of parents' (and sisters') weekends were spent traveling to these competitions. There are a few trips in particular that I can recall. There was one where it was just my dad and me. I believe the competition was in the Oak Brook area. That is really all I recall, but even then I knew how lucky I was to have my DAD bringing me and hanging out with me at a dance competition all day long. Another was a trip down to Springfield - that is a trip my whole family will never forget (someone was very stubborn and starving, ha!). There was St. Louis and good ole Pigeon Forge, TN. I remember there was a fire in Gaitlinburg, TN not long after we left - I think it was at the Ripley's Believe It or Not there. I remember eating ice cream at a little parlor downtown Gaitlinburg. There were a lot of competitions and while I can't remember most of them, I do remember one that was maybe in Peoria and all the dancers went on stage before the awards were given out and we rocked out to "Two Legit to Quit" by MC Hammer...those were the days!!!
Then at the young age of I think 13, I started teaching at the Dance Center as well. I was officially Miss Amy :) This was the time where the juggling began. I was a junior high cheerleader and played volleyball and softball. Luckily we lived close enough to the Dance Center then that I could walk to work after school. I continued teaching dance all through high school - again juggling cheerleading, softball, and of course school. My dad and I laugh about those years because we can't remember how it all just seemed to work. After cheerleading practice (before I had my license), I would call home to have someone come and get me and they would bring me straight down to the Dance Center. They would bring me dinner to eat during the 5 minute car ride down to work and then they would come back to get me usually around 9 when all the classes were over. I guess I did my homework when I got home, I can't even remember. I usually taught from 4PM-9PM Monday through Thursday night and then Saturday mornings too. I think during my junior and senior years of high school I started doing some private lessons on Saturday afternoons. It sounds like my life was crazy, but I don't remember me thinking it was crazy. I am sure I complained at times, but I loved dance and I loved teaching it. I even started taking tap class again so that I could teach (Miss Vicky said I had to!) and I really did not like tap! (I am not sure why I didn't like it - now I am always doing flap heel heel brush heel toe heel when I am standing around :) )
Anyways...I continued dancing in college. I was considering going out for softball, but that was before I found out that Augustana had a dance company. And once I found out that it wasn't poms (nothing against a pom squad, but that just wasn't my thing), I was definitely interested. I tried out in the fall of my freshman year and made the Company. We put on two shows a year with all of the dances choreographed by the members. I choreographed 4 or 5 dances over the 4 years I was at Augie. It was so great to continue dancing as long as I could.
Then college ended and so did my dancing :( I didn't think much about it at the time, I guess after 18 years, I was ready for a break. But now that nearly 6 years have passed, I miss it - terribly!
So what brings me to writing this post??? This year is The Dance Center's 40th anniversary. Wow! Miss Vicky has been delivering the wonderful gift of dance education for 40 years. Even my mom had the pleasure of learning dance from Miss Vicky! Her daughter, Miss Shannon, runs most everything these days. (She was basically my idol growing up. After she finished high school she went on to dance professionally.) Shannon sent out a Facebook message to all Dance Center alumni to participate in the recital this May. She was hoping to put together an alumni dance. I was very excited, yet hesitant, at first. I agreed to do it, but then after seeing the rehearsal dates, I was having a hard time committing. They are a couple of Sundays a month, and our Spring is already busy with baseball starting and other travels back to LP for other things. I just didn't want to spend my time driving back so much so I opted out. Well, the first rehearsal was this past Sunday and I got a recap of the rehearsal via Facebook and saw the video...I was so sad. In the first part of the recap, Shannon thanked everyone for the great turnout and how it was so great to honor Miss Vicky this way - I seriously lost it. The tears started coming! Why am I not doing this??? Miss Vicky was such a big part of my life. She helped to give me the wonderful gift of dance. I owe this to her and I owe it to myself to not be afraid to go back to this point in my life. It seems so far away now, but will I always have that dancing girl inside of me (Luke loves when I do pirouette's for him :) ). So...I emailed Shannon and begged her to still let me be a part of this reunion. I am waiting to hear back and will completely understand if she says no considering they have already had one rehearsal, but I am hoping, praying that I can be a part of the 40th Anniversary Dance Center recital in May. So I am brushing off my dancing shoes and crossing my fingers for a positive response :)
To Mom and Dad - I just want to say thank you again for introducing me to this art. I truly loved it and I still do (as seen by my love of reality dance shows)! I know that it cost a lot of money and took up a lot of your time shuttling me back and forth, but I really, really appreciate it! And while I love my little Lukey more than anything in this world, I think I would be completely lying to myself if I said there wasn't a tiny part of me that so hopes to be blessed with a little girl down the road so that we can introduce her to the world of dance as you guys did for me. Love you!
