My Mother’s words floated around in my head, “Come on guys you can do this, just breathe,” my dance partner and I were heading to the waiting room, this was my first national dance competition and i was challenging myself to get into the finals, I was absolutely terrified. I was standing among a sea of people all here for the same thing, to compete and be the best number one Rock n Roll dancer in all of New Zealand. It had seemed like such a big deal for me yesterday at our last minute training, to go out there and give my all, but now it was different. A strange feeling flowed through my body giving me goosebumps and a sudden sweating out break, I was now lined up with all the other contestants out in the waiting room; it frightened me that this was it. Getting my competition number pinned to the back of my floral dress made me realise that this was no time for daydreaming, I needed to focus, to shut out all anxieties, and prepare for a wild fight for first place.
I heard the Raging cheers of families and other supporters, plus the random mega phone shoutings from people in the distance, Breathing deeply I looked over to my right, out the massive bay window and imagined flying away, thinking to myself, what would it be like to just leave and escape all of this?, It was getting really stuffy back here, it was a warm night in Whanganui and it didn’t help being cramped into a gym hall. The crackling of the microphone interrupted my daze, the mc’s footsteps seemed to thud up the wooden stairs echoing around the room, the audience quietened down waiting for what was to be said.
”can the first round of Junior division contestants make their way to the floor”, he said deeply allowing all to be heard.
“this was it, i said to myself, time to prove them wrong, I am a good dancer”. I proudly walked out arm linked with my partner Israel's, after all I was representing Christchurch. We took our place centre floor and prepared ourselves, As soon As Cliff Richards Summer holiday began playing, we started our routine, and all my worries seemed to slowly drift away.
All seemed to be going well for me, I felt like i was a queen and all others were peasants, nothings, I felt as if they were not even there. But slowly hidden far away, deep inside a sudden feeling crept up on me as we prepared ourselves for one particular lift that scared the heck out of me. I felt my legs starting to shake, my breath became thicker, hotter and I started to get a little light headed, by now the adrenaline had definitely kicked in, I was exhausted, drained, and desperately needed water. Butterflies flowed through my stomach, gushing around through my body, trying to ruin my tranquillity. I tried Not to slow down, to keep up pace, to focus. Israel could notice something was up, “you okay” he whispered, trying not to make it to obvious for the judges, “yeah i’m fine, let’s finish this”. I’m not quite sure what happened next but everything seemed to go blurry and sort of freeze in time. I didn’t jump, it seemed like more of a skip, so I wasn’t able to be caught in time and I fell to the floor with a thud that echoed for miles. I sat there for what seemed like forever, “get up Michaela!, get up carry on!” Bellowed a fellow Christchurch competitor from the sidelines.
Realising that i have been down for about 5 seconds now, I quickly get up and keep dancing, trying to forget about what happened. I put on a fake smile and kept up to Israel for and throughout the rest of the dance.
We finished our routine off with a bang, and stood there like wild dogs panting after a run, i looked over at Israel and beads of sweat had appeared on his forehead. I looked around me and saw the same tired expression on everyone else's face, I also noticed that I had lost one of my shoes some part of my routine too. I felt tears stinging my eyes, tears of exhaustion, we walked over and congratulated the other competitors for a job well done. After we were allowed to leave the floor, I ran up to my mother and collapsed in her arms. I felt like I hadn’t done the best that i could of done and I was really upset with myself. Israel and i got congratulated by supporters and families, then we all sat in dead silence awaiting the judges final decisions.
They spent for what felt like forever announcing each and every division, I wasn't paying attention, that was till I heard my name over the speakers, We finished in second place and took home silver, which was a massive achievement because we had challenged ourselves to just try and make it into the finals. There was an eruption of cheering and excited screams as we stepped up onto the podium, we punched our fists into the air and i thought to myself, this memory is gonna stay with me forever.
