Many of my friends believe dance is not a sport. People see dance as girls and boys prancing around the stage. Well, it took a lot to just to step onto that stage. For me, I had to practice on my own at home and work hard in my classes.
My dream when I started dancing was to go up en pointe (yes, it's en pointe). Pointe is a type of ballet except girls just use pointe shoes. They are ballet flats with a large box of glue at the bottom to support the dancer as the go on their boxes. At my studio, I saw all the older girls en pointe and I knew that's where I wanted to be. I decided to take multiple ballet classes and use muscle memory to learn the moves. While doing barre, I would practice pointing through my ankle and keeping everything square. Eventually, when I was 13, I went en pointe.
I had to achieve my goal by learning with muscle memory and extra practice. Going over a tendu, jete, and rond de jambe at home helped me grow. Learning something new means I set goals and practice over and over again. For dance, going through multiple moves until they were correct helped me learn to go en pointe.