Eritrean Dance Experience

Being an Eritrean American has always been something Ia??m proud of. In an effort to better connect myself with my heritage, I began to take Eritrean cultural dance lessons in order to be part of the Eritrean festival dance performance. I have always wanted to excell in everything that I do, especially if it meant a lot to me. I did not expect that these dance lessons would provide me with the lesson of handling failure and criticism. The Eritrean dance performance gave me the opportunity to choreograph my own dance for the first time. Since I was experienced and practiced for this dance I thought I would have no problem being chosen to be in the dance. However, during try-outs, my cousin and I performed what we believed to be a great routine. …show more content…
This meant not being able to dance with my cousin. I choose to join a different group to better my chances in the competition. Sadly, we did not perform at the festival again. I was not quite as upset this time, and I took my failure with clarity. As the next year approached, I promised myself that things would be different. I was more experienced and educated about what makes a dance successful on stage. By thinking about every comment I had ever received about my dances, and combining that with my determination, I finally earned the opportunity of performing in 2012 Eritrean festival. Finally, I saw that the past three years of my hard work had not been worthless. This achievement meant more than performing at the festival; it taught me valuable lessons as well. I learned a lesson I would never have learned were I to get in on the first try. Now, when I face an obstacle, I know not to give up because that would get rid of all hope of accomplishing my goals. I have also learned that failure and criticism are very important parts of the learning practice of life. Now I am more open to receive criticism now and to use it to improve myself, rather than to discourage