Grab every opportunity by both hands; do what you love; follow your heart, such clichés. It’s funny how when we hear such things being said we roll our eyes and carry on with life, not even taking a second to really think about them. Its funny how we say, “arg typical” when people we look up to say such lines when interviewed. All these are whack lines celebrities use to score points with fans. We believe all this till one of the oh so cliché sayings become reality in your life.
I started dancing again two to three weeks back. I used to dance in primary and early high school, then I don’t know what happened but I stopped dancing completely. A few weeks back a girl, Matsepo approached me, asking me if I wanted to dance with her and some other girls at Mr. and Mrs. NMMU. I was so shocked, this was so unexpected and no one at varsity had ever seen me dance so I didn’t know where she would get the idea that I dance. I got tongue tired at the question mark of this question, I didn’t know what to say. I had so many questions rushing through my mind all at once but the word yes stood out. Then the words, “I don’t know, I’ll have to sleep on it” weaseled their way out my mouth.
I slept on it and came back the next day having decided that no, I won’t do it. I mean I hadn’t danced in such a long time and I didn’t know the latest dance moves and all the other negatives I could think of to justify my reply. I made my way to Matsepo and when she asked me what the verdict was, I found myself saying yes. I was so confused, that’s not what I wanted to say, why was my mouth saying things it’s not instructed to say? I wanted to take it back but huge smile Matsepo had on her face told me there’s no turning back now. I stuck around, attended practice and I had a blast; I enjoyed every minute of practice and every minute of dancing.
The practices went on and our dance was coming together nicely. The days quickly drew closer to the performance day and the nerves started surfacing. The actual day came and the countdown till kill time began. People started getting paranoid and thinking of rubbish such as falling off stage, falling on your face on stage, forgetting moves etc. The time came, the music started, the lights went crazy and we were on. As soon as I stepped foot on that stage and heard all the screams my nerves left the building. I had fun with it and did my thing. Knowing me I obviously made a boo – boo but it was no biggie because I made it with confidence. I held my head up high and acted as if the mistake I made was part of the choreography. When I got off that stage I was on such a high, I wanted to go back; to think that my initial plan was to decline the offer.
I’m glad my mouth spoke out of turn when it said yes I’ll dance. I’m glad I reconnected with this thing I love so much. After this experience I found myself nodding in interest when one mentions the oh so cliché sayings. This is not the reach for your dreams cliché, it’s not the grab every opportunity one either; it’s more like the follow your heart and do what you love. So I’m doing just that and I’m seeing myself into pure happiness.
