Character Study (III)

Today is Saturday and something miraculous happened. After I wrote my last homesick letter, I fell asleep and was woken up by my roommate’s brother. He asked where his sister went and I couldn't speak of course due to my limitation of dancing and the fact that he looked like Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend. He must have thought I was paralyzed, which I was from not dancing, and so he pitied me with a cookie. I shook my head in rejection to the cookie. I refuse to participate in the “Freshman Fifteen” that seems popular for most students. I found out he was a teacher’s assistant/ demonstrator for one of the dance professors at UCLA.

 “Well,” he began, “I was just hoping to give my sister some dance posters to hang up for the show that’s coming up.” I was in heaven. Finally, someone who loved dance! I was absolutely speechless and I began to cry. He looked at me with confusion and handed me a ticket saying, “I don’t know if you’re interested, but sometimes dance has a way of curing everything. Sometimes I hurt because I dance, other times I dance because I’m hurt, but either way, dance fixes it all.” He handed me a ticket to the dance show. This was an opportunity of a lifetime. The ticket showed her name, the greatest choreographer in all of America, Sonya Tayeh! My eyes doubled and I looked up like he was the Savior of Dance. “Want to come with me?” he asked. I nodded my head and smiled. “Alright so I’ll pick you up at five. Sonya needs help with casting her next show so there will be an audition for the spring performance, yeah?” I nodded my head with a smile once again and he departed.

I became overwhelmed. Not only was I invited to a show that is presenting  Sonya Tayeh’s art and voice, but an audition that could change my life forever. This was an opportunity to gain my voice back that I once had back home at Hancock. I was determined to make it happen; however, the few remained. “First,” I thought, “I need to get out of bed. Then, I need to gain back my physical endurance and physical coordination. Finally, I need to choreograph a dance for the audition and have the guts to perform in front of the global icon of dance, Sonya Tayeh.”