Kaitlyn Lawrence

In 2013 I danced in the Orange Bowl. I had just recently switched dance studios a couple months before we found out about the performance. One day my dance teacher Mrs. Ryan made all of us come to a meeting because she had important news to tell us. Well normally she just tells us in our dance classes but this time she didn’t. When we had the meeting it was uncomfortable because of everyone’s body heat. The smell of sweat and stinky shoes filled the air.  Then a girl named Kaysi shouted “Are you pregnant?”  Mrs. Ryan just laughed and said that she wasn’t and everyone sighed in relief. She started telling us that we were chosen to dance in the Orange Bowl. There were thousands of studios that could have gotten picked and we were one of them! Everyone started screaming and shouting out of excitement. The sound of 40 girls screaming isn’t too pleasant to people’s ears though.

After she told us the news she continued to talk about everything we would have to do for it. We had to get a thousand dollars, and learn dances to three songs and we didn’t have a lot of time. We had a month to learn it because we also had our Christmas recital coming up soon. It caused a lot of stress, for not only us as dancers, but for our parents as well. The meeting had finally ended and the parents left the dance room. The parents started talking about doing fundraisers and selling things to get money for it.

The next week we started learning the dances for it. It turns out that Dierks Bently was singing in the halftime show while we were dancing. We started learning the dances and it turns out they were really easy moves. Both of our elite dance groups learned the dances in four classes which isn’t a lot. It was hard to get everything to work but in the end we knew it would be worth it. It would be the experience of a lifetime.

It was like two weeks before the Orange Bowl and everyone had finally turned in all of the money. After everyone paid we got our costume for the performance. It was a silver sparkly dress with two straps. In my opinion it was not cute at all. One girl named Kayla asked “How are we supposed to dance in a dress that isn’t very loose?” Mrs. Ryan just told us we would get used to it and to not worry. Then a lot of us asked if we could just try the dance in it a couple of times and she said yes. It turned out to not be as hard as we all thought it was going to be.

Time flew by and before we knew it we were getting on the plane to go to the Orange Bowl. When we got on the plane it wasn’t that fun. We had to take two planes to get there and one time I didn’t even get to sit with my mom! It was weird sitting beside someone I didn’t know. I got lucky because the ladies that I had to sit with were really nice. The flights were very windy so it was hard to go to sleep. It was like the plane was getting hit by huge rocks in the sky.

When we finally got to Miami we had to go to the hotel where everyone was staying. When we got to the hotel it felt like there were a billion people in the lobby! It was so packed in there because they made everyone wait to check in. All I remember me saying was “Are we ever going to get our room?” I would say we were in there for a good two hours before we were even allowed to get in our rooms. But once we got in our rooms we unpacked all of our things since we were going to be there for a whole week.

We practiced the dance with Maggie Moore all week long. Maggie was the one who made up all the dances for us. With all thirty dance studios in there it smelled worse than a porta john. But after a while we got used to the smell and it didn’t bother anyone anymore. We practiced and practiced all week long and gave it our all. Then before we knew it the next day was the Orange Bowl.

The next morning I was so nervous about the Orange Bowl because it was that night! It came faster than I thought it would. We got to the game pretty late that night and it was so cold outside. We had to sit in the stands for half the game which wasn’t fun. The air was so crisp and cold, I felt like I was turning into an ice cycle. Five minutes before the second quarter was over all of us had to head down to the field. By then my thoughts were everywhere. I was so nervous and all I could think of was messing up the dance.

Finally the moment came that we were standing on the field about to dance in front of at least a million people. My heart felt like it was a volcano and about to explode. But once the music started I just kept smiling, dancing and having lots of fun. I ended up being on the big screen! After we danced everyone was so excited and shocked that we all hugged and cried. It was so much fun dancing in front of so many people, especially since I was with my second family.

Looking back on the Orange Bowl a year later I am still amazed by it. I would have never thought I would have got to experience something so fun. I wish I could do it all again because it was worth every single penny. I am very happy about what I have done with my life through dancing. I hope to continue dancing and having different experiences as I grow up. The Orange Bowl really changed my thoughts of dance a lot. Without it I don’t think I would be the dancer that I am now.