shall.

I grew up watching countless classic dance movies  - Step Up, Center Stage, Flashdance, A Chorus Line to name a few.

But above all, the movie Shall We Dance will always stay closest to my heart. 

It's hard to believe that it came out almost 10 years ago, but I can distinctly remember going to the movie theatre on a whim with my parents to see it. 

Having only recently been introduced to Richard Gere's smooth moves in Chicago a few years before, I had a small idea of what I was getting into. However, I didn't expect this little film to have such a major impact on both my parents and myself. 

Tired of his mundane life, Richard Gere's character signs up for ballroom dance classes on a whim after seeing the teacher (Jennifer Lopez) in the studio window. After weeks of trying, failing, getting back up and more training, Gere's character starts to find an immense amount of joy in dance. This leads to Gere entering a ballroom dance competition and succeeding. 

However, one of the best moments in the movie has hardly any dance happening in it at all. 

There is a scene when Gere and his fellow new dance comrades are anxiously waiting in the studio for their class to start. Jennifer Lopez walks into the room - shoulders back, chin lifted and literally gliding. 

I remember being seated between my parents in the movie theatre, and during this moment, my dad reached across me to grab my mother's hand as Gere and Lopez started to dance. 

There is another part in the movie when Lopez's character talks about starting to take dance seriously when she was eight years old. My mother leaned into me and whispered "same as you." 

In so many ways, I think that was the night I decided I needed to have dance, in whatever form it was, in my life. 

This evolved into teaching children, teens and adults of all levels, choreographing and now performing professionally. 

There are tough days. The times when I get cut first in an audition. When I'm in pain from rehearsal. When it just doesn't seem like I can catch a break. 

But that's life. Success doesn't have to be measured by those standing ovations. I'm seeing that it can be in those quiet moments between a teacher and her student. 

So friends, shall we dance?