She stood in formation with the other girls ready to give it her all. Her palms were sweating and her heart was racing. She wondered what could possibly happen.  In five minutes, she was to perform the dance routine for the senior Planoettes, and they would judge her. The best dancers would be rewarded with a ribbon. She had been dancing for three years.  Now was the time for her to prove herself.

“One of the hardest dance routines I had to do was the reverse axle,” Junior Andrea Bazemore said. “I couldn’t get my legs up, and I couldn’t do the leaps during practice. It was really frustrating.”

The juniors were only given one hour to practice that dance routine before performing at schedule pick-up.  They had to concentrate and focus with the limited amount of time allotted.

“I could see other people do it, so why couldn’t I?” Bazemore said. “However, I did not dwell on it too much because I knew that I would get it eventually.”

Luckily, she had a support group, her Planoette teammates, who was there for her when she felt her weakest.  They cheered and encouraged her on.

“If the Planoettes team gave up, I would give up, too,” Bazemore said. “It is a team effort. You should always stick with the team. Even though I persisted with my efforts, I still thought to myself, ‘What did I get myself into?’ But in the end, I had no quitting thoughts.”

With the motivation from her dance friends, Bazemore spent every minute of that hour working on the steps. She worried about the end result.

“I was really nervous that I would forget the dance and fall out of my jump split,” Bazemore said.

She was relieved that she performed the routine with fluency.  

“I felt comfortable and was able to get through it easily,” Bazemore said. “By the end of the day, I found it was a beautiful project. I love dancing, I didn’t want to give up.”

Overcoming this challenge has taught her not to give up in any situation outside of dance, no matter how difficult it may be. Any time she struggled with a dance step, she worked on her techniques for leaps and turns every chance she got.  She would even try to get homework done in advance to allow more time to practice at home.

“You must always give it your all even though you may be tired,” Bazemore said. “You need to honor your commitment. It’s still worth it in the end.”