Electric Expression

• Madeleine Lennon, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2017

Adrenaline pulsed through my veins and my palms clenched together tightly. I was ready. I heard the music blast out, filling my eardrums with the familiar sounds. Deep breath. I made my entrance onto the stage and struck a pose to the rapturous applause, the bright lights flooding my eyes. The six minutes were a blur as always. I felt electric and alive as I moved over the stage, dancing until I finally turned and stopped in my final pose. Silence. Then thunderous applause roared throughout the theatre. My eyes panned around the audience and my attention turned to the faces of all the people who had chosen me. I was the finally the girl who the world admired. I couldn’t stop smiling as I bowed and exited the stage vibrant and spirited, on top of the world.
I snapped back to reality. I stared at my hands, smeared with dirt. I was wearing clothes from far too long ago and battered old shoes. Everything from my sensational past was now gone. Everything except my passion to dance. I had been evicted from my home, removed from my dance school and thrown to the streets. I was now a fish in the sea that couldn’t swim, and I longed to be pulled to the surface again. All I had now was dance. The one thing that no one could ever take from me was the one thing the truly mattered. I put my bag down slowly and took my shoes off, carefully placing them to the side. I stood on the pavement in my dirty socks and took a deep breath. The passion burst out of me and electricity seemed to surge through my whole body. I moved to the music that only I could hear and moved to beats inside my head. The memories of my past were still there and I danced until they died. I overpowered my sadness with the thrill and joy of moving rhythmically to the thing I knew best. Dance was never all about who was watching. It was about the ache inside me, the long and urge to be moving to the sound of the music. That was all I needed to live.