A Legacy

My life story as a child was comparable to a ballerina doll inside a jewelry box. I loved to stay inside, feeling the eminence and royalty as a dancer. I got so much fear of coming out and didn't want to take risks. I felt like a perfect doll dancing through a memorized dance routine, knowing every single step and not commiting any mistake. What if I conquered that fear? I have answered that what if.

At 18, in exchange of a dance scholarship I got for many years, the director of my ballet school told me that I'd become a faculty member. I was unhappy. I was unprepared to become a teacher. I only liked to perform and be only a dancer. That's how I started my struggling career path.

My students were innocent children. How in the world will I make a difference to their lives? I didn't even know the ABC's of teaching. As a person, I'm not the type who talks a lot. I weren't confident about managing a class of 20 students, feeling shaky knowing that their parents were watching through the windows. I once wished I could read a book to tell me what to do.

I was wrong. One summer time, I was staring blankly unto my students when suddenly, I remembered myself who was only a child on her first ballet class. I was oozing with excitement to learn back then. Who am I to be afraid of sharing the happiness which I found in dancing? Children have the purest hearts. They're always awe-inspired, and full of life. I didn't need to study about how to teach, because it's them who taught me. The little child is still inside me.

                                            

Without hesitations, I decided to be a part of their happiest stage in life. So I started showing to them the steps, little by little. I told them how to point those little toes, correcting those tiny muscles, telling them to be brave when they can't do a step, day by day as the music rolls. Seeing those smiles on their lips, and the infinite joy on their faces, the day finally came that it wasn't a job anymore, but a passion. My spirit have lifted up, and I have built a glaring fire inside me, liking it so bad. Maybe it's an accident, but could it be fate?

                                      

I thought: it's not always about myself. I began doing my own choreography of dances. The main characters weren't me but my dear students. The audience applauding to them, while I'm at the back stage secretly watching. It's their shining moment. Whenever my students were up on stage, my world would turn slowy. It was a magical moment where people can move differetly away from reality. It was a world I once loved and will forever do. I want them to feel that magic as well, so they may pass on that magic, just as I did.

                                     

People might say, I'm just teaching simple ballet to babies. Some won't know the art, the line, and the color in a performance.  Dancers need to gracefully walk on their two toes and not show the pain. I'm teaching them to become warriors and fighters no matter how difficult the flow of life is. They can come out of the studio and still remember the principles of the techniques, even though they won't pursue dance.                                                            

Dancing has taught me to be grateful of God's given gift ; whilst teaching has given me the power to share that gift and to inspire people's hearts. I can not dance eternally, but with a two minute dance routine, hopefully I  can change one's life. So long as my dancing shoes would allow me, I will continue to mold beings who will be greater than me. My teachings willl be passed on by the generations to come. In that way, my spirit will linger on earth.

Realizing that I don't need to have a published a book, nor an engraved statue to be remembered, it made me believe that being a teacher is putting a mark in someone's heart, and becoming a legacy.

A CSR Story by: Aira Katrina A. Isleta
Graduated with a degree of AB Communication at De La Salle Lipa