Alessandra Sironi is a junior communication studies major and an international student from Venezuela. Besides dancing, her hobbies include working out and filmmaking. She is a program director for SUTV, part of the Office of Student Media. She is a member of NSU’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and her philosophy on life is “Always wear a smile.”
When I was 4, my mother signed me up for my first ballet lesson. I remember I was too scared to dance. That afternoon, when my mom drove me to the studio I did not want to enter. She had to get out of the car and walk me to the door. The lady at the front desk asked me with a smile if I had my clothes ready, and I started to cry immediately. My mom told her she would buy my ballet outfit after I had tried my first lesson. The lady winked at me, and my mom encouraged me to jump in with the rest of the girls.
The room smelled like baby lavender spray. There were 11 girls perfectly dressed with ballet outfits and bows, all of them with perfectly combed hair. I was dressed in an old leotard and a tutu. Moms believe that ballet lessons mean wearing pink tutus, which is not always true. Feeling out of place, I began following the butterfly movement they were doing, after a couple minutes, I realized that my passion for dancing had begun.
Every Monday and Wednesday until I turned 10, I, religiously, attended my ballet lessons at the same studio. I became a “balletholic.” Nothing would stop me from going to dance. Every time I felt sick, I stressed out, because I knew I was going to miss my beloved dancing lessons. When I turned 10, the studio opened flamenco lessons and I was the first to sign up. My cousins had also joined the studio by that time. I began to spend more time at the studio than at my home. During those days, my goal was to become a flamenco and ballet teacher for young girls like me.
However, when I turned 16, I quit my studio. I told my mom I had enough of dancing. It was obvious. I just wanted to party and hang out with my friends. As all moms do, she supported me and withdrew me from lessons at the studio.
All my cousins also left the studio, except for one who became a teacher two years later. She invited me to one of her classes once and when I saw her dancing, I told myself it was a bad idea to leave the studio. I felt awful. She had everything I wanted; she was considered a professional and she was also working for the studio. When I got home, I told my mom I wanted to start dancing again.
She agreed to help me, but this time asked me to get a job to pay half of the fee. She did it to teach me a lesson about giving value to the money that I spent. I did everything I could to get the job.
During this time, I was 18 and already attending college. I began dancing ballet one month later and it felt so different. My body had changed and my resilience was not the same as when I was young. I needed to practice more hours than usual to keep up with the group. To dance ballet, you must be in shape, and I was not. Since dancing flamenco was easier, I switched to that class. My cousin was my teacher and mentor for some time and she encouraged me not to quit anymore, because I had potential. Thanks mostly to her and my mother, I reached my goal: two years later, after working hard, I received my professional certificate from the studio.
Nowadays, I am a proud teacher to 16 beautiful little girls at a studio in North Miami. I am still learning new skills every day and attending workshops with dancers from Spain. I never stop going to dance lessons, because I believe practice makes perfect. Techniques change from time to time and I have to keep up with them.
How do I manage my time by being both a dance teacher and student? I simply organize myself. I tend to plan my flamenco classes during the weekend so they do not interfere with the rest of my responsibilities. Since I am studying communication, I am thinking about combining my knowledge in dance and mass media to start a YouTube channel, which will be about dancing tips, exercises and Flamenco outfits. My dream is also to open my own studio and to launch a flamenco fashion store. I love designing dresses, so I will look for a great seamstress and when I save some money I will invest it in some fabric.
Dancing made me an active person and I got to know quite a lot of people thanks to this fun exercise. I have danced in three events at NSU, one of them being NSU’s Got Talent. The Latin American Student Association (LASA) always invites me to dance at their events too.
It might sound like a cliché, but the moral of my story is that it is never too late to turn your dreams into reality — or at least that is what I tell to myself from my experience. When I began dancing again, it truly felt like I was not going to reach a professional level, and I wanted to quit in many occasions. However, making the right choices led me to my goal, and here I am.
I encourage people to keep doing what they love and to never quit. You never know if our hobbies can become a job opportunity or a business idea.
