Happy Happy Girl!

This week marks my 10th Anniversary in NYC! 

Click Here to catch up on the story of how I ended up here!

At Clifton Dance Project in California.
July 1999.

While I had some serious challenges in high school, I also had some amazing experiences. 

There were several places that I did dance while in my Dolly Parton days. In the summer of 1996, I danced at Walt Disney World, Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute and Dance Aspen. I even arrived to school a week late my sophomore year because I was still at dance camp. I think I was home a total of 3 weeks during that summer. (Pretty sure my parents planned that.) 

After my sophomore year, I danced at Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute again. This time I went back as a ballerina. (I switched between modern dance and ballet a lot.) And went to dance in Los Angeles for the first time! A BLAST!! And then I came home to have the surgery! Woooo!!! 

So while I did get turned away from several dance camps because of my body, there were others that still saw talent and looked past my body. Yay!

Then the dance world really opened up for me after that chop chop chopping! 

Junior year was a fabulous dance year for me! And I loved all the choreography my mom did that year too! (It was the first time she cast me as the lead!!)

"W-O-M-A-N"  April 1998.

"My Love Is For Real" April 1998.

That summer we got asked to dance on the WB 34's 4th of July Special, We ALL went to Los Angeles to dance and I, of course, went back to OSAI! 

Senior year is a bit of a blur. I auditioned at every college known to man.

1. Arizona State (accepted w/dance scholarship)

2. Julliard (denied!)

3. NYU (accepted)

4. Oklahoma City University (denied... too fat!)

5. University of Oklahoma (accepted w/dance scholarship)

 I didn't even want to go to college! I wanted to move to NYC and dance. Or LA. I hadn't really thought that through yet. Ha! I really dug my heels in about going to college. I just thought it was silly to waste my best physical years at school. So, Daddy made a fabulous deal with me. I go to school for at least 1 year and he will pay for it if I ever decide to go back. If I went to NYC right out of high school, college was on me if I ever decided to go. Lucky for me, I took the deal. 

Graduation Day! May 1999.

After much dilberation, I chose to go to OU at the very last minute. I spent my summer before college the way I had spent every summer since I was 13... dancing at camps. I loved every minute of it and little did I know, I was making friendships that would come in very handy in the near future.