Best Dancer Inst. Bernadette

The Best Dancer in St. Bernadette

At age eight I sat on my living room floor in awe. I had never seen anything as amazing and inspiring as what I had just viewed. There she was, Cha Cha DiGregorio: a woman that has everything figured out. Since that day, I wanted to be Cha Cha. She walks into a room and commands attention, not to mention she's the best dancer in St. Bernadette.

"Grease" has since been my favorite old time musical. So naturally when I got wind of my school's theatre putting on the show, I was thrilled. I had never been in a high school play before, but I wasn't against the whole experience. After all, this was my chance. I could finally be Cha Cha.

Most girls wanted leads like Innocent Sandy and Bad to the Bone Rizzo, but I wanted that tiny little cameo. The audition day had come and I had jitters more frequent and severe than ever before. The anxiety was beginning to kick in quite harshly. It was getting down to the minute. I was three people away from being on stage. This was my only chance.

Finally, I walked up those three wooden stairs and stood center stage with lights beaming on my every hair. Earlier that day we had learned a short dance routine and now it was my time to shine. "Greased Lightning" came over the speaker and on I went. Within a half a count I was exerting more energy than I thought I had to offer. My eye brow arched, and my hip tapped like I was born in the fifties, made to strut to "Greased Lightning". Ninety-six counts later, it was over. I felt good about my performance, but was clueless as to whether that was going to be enough.

I don't remember more than those first couple of eight counts of that dance. I honestly didn't know whether I did the motions correctly or if I had an attitude seductively enough to be Cha Cha. I guess you can say I did all right though. When I walked off