Acceptance

So I’ve been wanting to make a post like this for awhile now, but I really haven’t had the guts to do so (and it’s a tough one for me to share so bear with me and my sappy-ness please hehe).

Recently, I saw this dance by a choreographer/dancer named Lonni Olson (@lonniolson) and it quickly became one of my favorite dance combinations I’ve ever seen!! I fell in love with how the movements synced to the music, and how they were so sharp, yet so fluid at the same time. 

While hesitant, I decided to challenge myself to learn the choreography and eventually share it. Now, watching myself dance has always been a struggle for me. I tend to compare myself to professionals I see, and beat myself up over my physical limitations. 

If I was going to do this, I knew that I’d have to keep an open mind for how it would look on my body. I’m aware I do not have the lines that professional dancers have. I know there are certain things that my body physically cannot do without pain or risk of injury.

However, once I had the choreography down, I then challenged myself to make it my own. I had to alter a few parts to be more flattering on me. I had to take the time to realize that each individual dancer that is out there’s movements won’t all be exactly the same (as much as I’d love that lol). 

The end result was this video here. There aren’t many solo videos that I’ve taken of myself that I have really enjoyed watching, and I can now finally say there is a video that I really like :) 

All in all, while everyone has a different opinion of what is entertaining or moving to them, I am proud of myself for the imperfections. I can genuinely say that I felt happy making this video, and less stressed about getting every single movement perfect!

So thank you to Ms. Olson for inspiring me to push myself physically and mentally. Learning to accept myself and the way I dance has been a longgg journey for me, but I’m definitely getting there day by day!