Music Is To Dance

I don't believe I have ever come across a person who has ever said to me that they dislike music. Everybody enjoys some kind of music. We may not all agree on one particular genre all of the time, but it is safe to say everybody enjoys it.

Me and music have had a very deep and loving relationship, since before I even exited the womb. My parents love music, and always consistently have it playing whenever they get the chance. Growing up I was introduced to so many types of music ranging from Pop, Disco, Blues, Doo Wop, Country, R&B, Hip Hop, Cumbia, Mariachi, etc., etc.; all the way down to Low Rider Bands from East LA. However, my relationship with music really began to emerge when my parents began placing me in dance classes at the age of 5. They decided to finally place me in classes when they discovered that I liked watching music videos (with dancing in particular), and would try and dance along with them. Not only would I dance along, I would see the music videos enough to the point where I would start learning the moves, and would catch on somewhat quickly. My love for music is what fueled my love for dancing.

While in dance, I was also partaking in the Contreras Family favorite athletic activity, soccer. Honestly, I was really not that good at the whole playing sports thing, but was not that bad in defense. I was always placed as sweeper, and never really liked it cause I just wanted to be up front kicking in goals. Isn't that what any kid wants? Goalies ran in my family, so naturally at the age of 8, I was placed in the position as goalie. This did not play out very well, or for very long. One game in particular I was in my goal net, and my team was doing a pretty good job of keeping the ball on the other end. Now this is a good thing, but for a goalie, this could get somewhat boring after awhile. So, I decided to keep myself busy by practicing my dance routines in the goalie box and would try catching butterflies intermittently. The music to my routines were playing over and over in my head, than all of a sudden interrupted like a big "screeeech!" on a record by my dad yelling at me to knock it off and pay attention. Pay attention to what? The ball was not coming my way. Needless to say, my duty as a goalie was not taken as seriously as was my dedication to my dance routines. This is when my parents decided to pull me out of soccer, and make dance my main extra curricular activity.

I loved dance. I was damn good at it too, and that is something I am not shy about to say or admit. I was on a competitive dance team from the ages of 8 to 18, and we kicked ass! I loved my dance team and my amazing dance director that brought out the amazing dancer that lived inside of me. I studied a mix of it all; ballet, jazz, hip hop, and lyrical were my main focuses. I look back and sometimes want to relive some of those heart stopping, adrenaline pumping moments on stage, but that's why it is a memory now. It's something I can always look back at and reminisce about. When I think back to my practices and rehearsals, all the mini combos that we would do in class were my favorite moments when I danced. It was a time that I would be able to just let loose and let out whatever emotions that was building up inside. The music especially would tell my body what to do. How hard to hit a move, how soft, how slow, how fast. The music would tell me the emotion to dance out; happy, sad, angry, in love, heartbroken, even awkward. The music was the director, my body was the artist, and the dance floor was my canvas. I would also be able to dance without music and use only words, and even pure silence sometimes. However, I found that with music is when my best dancing would come forth. Especially if it was a song I loved, an artist I would listen to, or a type that would inspire my body to move. Music was the key that unlocked my dancing talent.

I still love to dance, and where there is music, you better believe there I am grooving away in my own world. I don't care if I'm by myself either. If its a good song, if I can move my body to it, than I'm dancing to it; solo, or in a crowd. I love music and what it does to me and my emotions and how it can be so therapeutic. Even right now, as I am typing this, a mellow, lingering sound of a play list on Pandora, is flooding my lap top speakers; and I just noticed I was bobbing my head to the beats, I can't help it.

Music is to dance, dance is to music; therefore music is to life. To me anyways, this equation will always go hand in hand and be a very big portion of who I am.

Jam on<3