partner.

Watching home videos from when you were a child is one of my favourite pastimes. Although I don't have any of them here with me now, I turned to my dance collection from over the years. It's crazy to see how shy I used to be on stage when I was a kid, forgetting all the steps to wanting nothing more then to stay on it and never leave. As I grew up and my friends immersed themselves in normal teenager pastimes and went to Jamba Juice after school, I committed myself to the dance studio and wanted nothing more then to expose myself to everything that was dance. (I even tried poi and break dancing, which were experiences but I won't go back to that again).

During my grade 10 year of high school, I was extremely lucky to fall into an apprentice position with Moving Arts Dance Company in California. I performed many different pieces with other apprentices and the professional dancers, and took a hand at learning how to choreograph for the first time.

Today as I watched my videos of the solos I performed, I wonder how I was able to make my mind like that at times. Luis Napole's "No More Strangers" piece killed me with a seven-minute modern pointe solo - to the music of breaking glass and chainsaws. Not your everyday experience.

Something that really caught me today was the duets I performed. Once, it was the Pas de Deux of the Sugarplum Fairy from "The Nutcracker", which was literally a dream come true. But "No More Strangers" has such a different message now that I'm four years away from it. The relationship I had with my partner was so deep and intimate while we were onstage, and our emotions were bond by the piece. We relied on each other, and pushed ourselves and partner to get through. Those hours of rehearsal, the tears, practicing in silence during the dark, that made us come together.

I don't know where she is anymore, but onstage we were a unit, moving and creating art. That trust and experience doesn't come along that often, and I'm finally able to see the deeper message of it years later. Ask me, and I'll show you the video sometime.