Why... did I let it go?

I wonder if I could dance like this again or ever. Beautifully danced; the chemistry between the two dancers made this dance breathtaking, really.


Allison and Ivan from So You Think You Can Dance
dancing to "Why" by Annie Lennox

My one greatest regret in life is stopping formal dance training when I was much younger. I've stopped dancing for almost ten long years, while others my age were training hard to be stronger, more flexible, graceful, with better agility and strength, and not to mention, better adaptability to dance with a partner, something(s) I haven't been doing for the past ten years.

Silly, isn't it? My mother was the wisest woman on earth when she sent her children for proper training in music, and ballet for me, but we took that opportunity for granted. I would do anything to take back the years, but I know there's nothing I could do now, that's for sure. She saw the importance in formal music education, but unfortunately I didn't. Nowadays I have trouble reading notes even though I played the organ for about 8 years. And I missed out so much on dance. All I can do is to replace all those years of "emptiness" with extra hard work and extreme determination.

It's ironic, really. I literally begged my mother to send me for ballet classes. I wrote numerous letters reasoning why I should dance ballet, and I even pulled cheeky stunts by leaving newspaper cuttings, comic books, and pictures relating to ballet on her table. Sure, I stopped for various reasons - I have knee problems and a constant backache, but that wasn't enough justification to stop dancing when you realise how big a part of your life it truly is.

For years, I had this great big void in my heart, and I couldn't really be happy even when I tried to be. I smiled a lot, laughed even more, but there was always an emptiness deep inside. Whenever I watched dance performances or clips or movies, I cringe because I realised that this could be me. But it wasn't. It took me such a long time to come to the realisation that the missing link was returning my body to its true purpose and calling - dancing.

I know that people say when you started dancing at a young age your body never really loses it; that it's always within you and I won't deny that fact. I've had people approach me, asking me if I was a dancer (even today) whenever they see me around (even when I'm not dancing). But skipping years of training means losing out on lots of experiences, and the opportunities to build up on my strength (especially my hands). Even trained dancers, whenever they stop dancing for a month or two, would experience body aches whenever they pick up dancing again. Imagine that experience when you've stopped dancing formally for almost ten years.

Which is why we always say "mother knows best". She truly does. I should have listened. I just hope it's not too late now.

Edit: I decided to share these two videos that I find pretty impressive as well.


Beautiful choreography. Seriously.


I personally feel that this lacked chemistry, but the dancers were wonderful, it made this piece stunning. The chemistry may not have been there, but it did make me want to cry. They weren't dancing it for each other, but you can feel them feeling the music for themselves.
And oh, I think Blake McGrath makes dancing seem easy. Both him and Melody, in fact, have bodies made for lyrical dance. Oh, the softness!
At 00:53, Melody made a noticeable mistake. But she covered it up nicely :).