This year in the BHS gym, I decided to try out for Dance Team. Luckily, I was accepted. Becoming a part of this team has been a huge change in my life. I've made friends with so many people whom I would have never had any other opportunity to meet. I've also been more active and working harder than I've ever had to in previous experiences. By being a part of this team, I have come to realize that we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Someone is always going to do better than you at something. But it is important to work on strengthening your weaknesses and finding new ways to perform and perfect your strengths. A symbol to represent this event is the nude leotard that we wear under our costumes. This nude leotard is one shade of skin color. This symbolizes that when we dance, we are all one. It shows a lack of diversity in our team as well, but the beauty is that our skin color doesn't matter and we are all one because we are a team.

During my freshman year, I went to New York City decided to partake in the Women's March. Walking this march opened my eyes to something that I was truly lacking: Hope. To see people of all sexualities and genders and intersectional feminists of all different races and ethnicities, I was inspired by how so may people of different backgrounds could come together for one cause. I met so many kind faces with whom I had fantastic discussions with, each of us exchanging ideas and thoughts on our current situation. This lengthy march cause me to truly look into who I am as a person and really build on that. Again, this protest showed me that we are all different, and yet, we are all the same. It showed me that no matter how "extreme" or unrealistic an idea can be, you can achieve anything of you world hard enough with people who have the same goals as you and build off of one another's positive energy. A symbol to represent this event was the slogans and art made for the walk. These posters and paintings show that even in the worst of times, one can develop beauty and art out of their pain. Oppressed people decided to make something beautiful out of a bad situation, which was exactly what this march stood for

I decided to go the the MoMA in New York City with my family this year and in doing this, I was exposed to a whole new world. I saw how far back the act of going against your oppressors went, and how when people were in any form of pain, they turned to art for comfort and therapy. Even my dad (who was never really interested in art) was intrigued. I realized that art is created in such different ways by such different people, and yet, it stems from such similar areas of experience. It was very interesting to look into the troubled minds of each artist. Something that symbolizes my visit to the MoMA is one of my favorite art pieces by Bruce Conner, "Bombhead" (shown above). This art piece represents how everyone, even the common man, is internally exploding. Whether that be with creativity, depression, joy, anger, anything else or a mix of those, everyone is exploding. As I was walking around the museum, I noticed people from all walks of life, wearing all sorts of different things. But no matter how different we all looked, we were together in our intrigue of the madness that is modern art.

This school year, I decided to take Music Appreciation with Mr. St. Georges. This class was an intellectually stimulating class as well as laid back and calm. Music Appreciation exposed me to so many forms of music and re-introduced me to old songs I had forgotten about. I was able to discuss with others the role of society, politics, and media in music and how music influences everyone around the world. A symbol to represent when I took Music Appreciation were the dim lights in Mr. St. Georges' room. These lights were calming and if one more light lit up than what was originally lit, the brightness became overwhelming. This is just like the class: if someone made a comment on anything related to the music or politics, "the entire room would light up" and we'd all have a discussion on the topic.

In my dance academy, some of the students and I have decided to choreograph combinations for our classes. What's fantastic about this is, not only have I realized that I love choreographing contemporary pieces, but as my friends and I choreograph, we find dance moves that we like and "steal" them from each other and put them into our new pieces. Choreographing has taught me the importance of freedom of movement. I find choreography just as essential as improvisation. Doing this has helped me realize that dance is an expression of emotions and stories through your body and your body's emotions. A symbol for this decision I've made is a baggy t-shirt. The baggy t-shirt symbolizes the simplicity in dance as well as the freedom in movement; no restrictions or distractions.