It was early on a Thursday morning in the middle of summer. I woke up and thought to myself "Eight am is too early for me". Usually on a summer day like this most people would sleep until noon, wake up, and then tan or swim. I on the other hand had to wake up early every morning to go to dance team practice because the annual UDA camp was coming up. Our dance had to be perfect and the only way to do that was by practicing, and unfortunately that meant giving up a majority of my summer. As I started making my way out of bed to get ready for what seemed to be another normal day at dance team I remembered today wasn't like the rest. Today was our camp show off where we would perform the routine that we would be taking to camp in a few days for our friends, family, and school community. For most people this was nothing, but for me it was my very first performance as a Golden Blue. I had never been to one of these before because none of my friends were on any teams. I didn't know what to expect so I figured there would be some parents there and maybe even a couple friends. I didn't even invite my friends because I thought it was pointless. So I changed to my practice uniform, packed my costume, and took off to school. The whole car ride I was thinking about how I felt. I didn't think I felt nervous. I mean I've performed for hundreds of people at dance competitions since first grade, so this should be a piece of cake right? I arrived at school and walked in and immediately we started picking at everything. Our new coach Leah, who I spent most of my summer with, was going through each and every detail in the dance and cleaning it. Cleaning a dance is a very tedious thing. You basically have to go through each moment of the dance and make sure everyone is doing exactly the same thing. I didn't know why everyone was freaking out, I mean yeah it was the show off but we still had a couple days to clean until the actual competition. After cleaning everything for a couple of hours Leah told us it was time to get ready, and that was just a plain nightmare. Not only did we all have to get ready in the gym locker room, we also had the Royalettes there too. It was a stressful disaster. Imagine forty girls in a small space putting on make up, doing hair, and changing into costumes; It is not fun. I personally like to get dressed by myself in my own space but that was just not going to happen. We didn't have long so I started the process of transformation. I had to do all my make up a certain way and I also had to put on fake eyelashes which I hate. The glue sticks to your eyes and eventually you get use to them but it still isn't pleasant. Our hair to be teased in a half pony which I have no idea how to do, so called the queen of teasing, Kristen Boudreaux, to come help me. People were showing up one by one as we were getting ready. I was in the dressing room for the most part so I didn't see them or how many people were there. After everyone was ready it was almost time to start the show off. We got into a circle with the whole team just like we do at the end of every practice. Our coach gave us a speech of how proud she was of us and how glad she was to be our coach. We said our team prayer and moved into the gym. I walked into the gym and I was completely in shock. I couldn't even believe how many people were there! All of these stands were completely filled and some people even had to stand and watch! This was not what I expected, I thought no one went to these things, but I was wrong. Then, all of a sudden the nerves hit me. It was rare for me to ever get nervous, but for some reason, I was.The only difference between this and a dance competition is that you can see everyone's faces here. Usually at a competition it's dark in the audience so all you can see is the judges, but I don't even think that's why I was nervous. Before I could think twice about my nerves it was our turn to perform. Leah went up to the front and announced who she was and then it was time to go on. As we were walking on the crowd did not stop screaming for a second. I mean the whole gym was roaring! Over the noise of the crowd I somehow managed to hear our captain say "5,6,7,8!", then the music started. The next two minutes flew by. Every time I dance, those two minutes are the most important minutes in my life. I give those two minutes my everything. During that time I remember why I love to dance, I will never get enough of that feeling. Before I knew it, the dance was over. When I walked off that stage I can't describe in a single word how I felt. The feeling that all the hard work I put into this dance paid off. Giving away my summer paid off, and it was all worth it. In that moment I could feel nothing but proud. It's something I feel every time I dance. Now it was our turn to cheer on our sisters. We sat on the side of the gym and screamed for our baby doves to perform. The Royalettes were beautiful! They're dance was so good and we were so proud of them! I love to watch the perform. They say they look up to us, but I look up to them. Everyone cheered for them when they were finished too. They announced the show off was over and everyone wished us luck. My whole family came down and told me congratulations! Everyone was just saying how good we looked and how proud they were of us. It was amazing how many people were there to support us! I'm so glad I got to experience this moment with a team that is basically a family to me. Looking back on it now this was a defining moment for me as a dancer. It was an experience i'll never forget and a time when I truly felt like I was a part of something.