Once Upon A Dream

I don't know about you but I have always been a dreamer.

There are things that I have dreamed of since I was a young girl that I still fantasize about today.

Though I know that most of these dreams will never be fulfilled, ie. becoming a big Broadway star, as I have come to accept the realities of life, I still like to think about them. Most of my dreams involve dance and performing as a professional artist. I often look at many of my friends who have become successful in their professional dance endeavours and feel a little pang of jealousy. While I am thrilled for them and the success they have found but I feel a little bit sad that I am not also sharing in the journey of success with them.

My biggest dream in life was to be a ballerina. A dream stifled at the early age of 8 when my ballet teacher explained to me that it was too bad that I had flat feet and bowed legs because I showed a lot of promise. My parents were encouraged to put me into orthodics (arch supports,) which they did, but it was already much too late. For those of you who know little about the ballet world I'll simplify things by saying that there is a very specific body mold that dancers must fit into in order to achieve success as a professional dancer. Never the less I was not deterred in anyway because I simply loved dance way too much to give it up. I continued to dance and pour all of my time, life and energy into it.

I decided to pursue a university degree in dance where I met with a lot of other challenges and nearly bowed out in defeat. But I somehow managed to pull through and graduated after 4 very trying years. During this time my flat feet became a larger problem than they ever had been and I spent several weeks barely able to walk let alone dance. It was at this time that I really accepted that it was unrealistic for me to try to achieve success as a dancer in anyway shape or form. There were other factors that contributed to these feelings too but there is not need to get into the "abuse" that I suffered at the hands of my university dance teachers.

In the end I realized that my love of dance would continue to be a love and passion that I could share with other young students rather than on stage with audiences.

And so I come to another dream I have had since a child, which was to be a dance teacher. I'm glad that I was able to achieve this dream as it made the other impossible dream that much easier to bear. I truly love to teach dance. Probably because it is something that I really really love. I can't  explain to you why I love dance so much, other than that I do. It's like a part of me that must live, and I feel so despaired and unhappy when it is not a part of my life. Teaching dance has brought me great joy over the years, and this is what leads to my other big crazy dream.

I have always, always dreamed of owning and operating my own children's/youth dance company. Not a school (though this could possibly one day lead to such an institution,)  but a company that serves the purpose of exposing young dancers to the professional dance industry, allowing them to work with professional choreographers and travel and perform all over the world. To me there would be nothing greater than to share my passion for dance with young dancers while also producing shows and creating new works to enrich both the lives of the performers and the audience members.

Sigh. It's a big dream, but one that I hope to achieve someday. There are many dance companies in Canada but not many children's dance companies. I know that there is a place for this and in time and in the right season it will happen. I just need to figure out HOW to make it all work! It`s been a dream that has been in my mind more recently in the past year or so than it has been for awhile and I am really making it a goal this year to stop putting it on the back burner and to start doing some work to get this project going. I`m not sure if it will happen this year or in 3 or 5 but I do know that I am actively pursuing the information and such that I need to find a way to make this dream a reality.

I hope that I will have new information to share about this big scary project as the year progresses. Where there is a will there is a way! Right?!

What are your big dreams that you've turned into realities? Give me your inspiring stories!

Jordan