Why I Love Dance by Grace McCabe

Posted on 21 August 2017

Tiny ballet shoes and tight hair buns are the strongest memories of my childhood. From a young age, I wanted to be a ballerina (as many young girls do) but I was lucky enough to join classes and make my dream a reality. My parents, supportive in all my artistic endeavours, enrolled me for ballet classes at the age of four and that’s where the magic began. Ballet and Modern Dance became a weekly part of my life, a social space where I could hang out with my friends and a place where I could learn new ways of artistic expression.

As a teenager, the principal of my ballet school gave me the opportunity to work with her and teach the beginner grades. This soon allowed me to develop my dance skills from a personal experience to one I could share with the younger students. My only regret with university is that I couldn’t be more heavily involved in dance and had to let it take a back seat for the first time in my life.

Dance for me wasn’t just about fitness or the outfits, I loved that I could tell a story simply through movement. The ability to express one’s deepest inner emotions just by turning your body in a certain way has always fascinated me. I began to watch other performances to help improve my own technique and soon the analysis of dance theatre became a hobby. Now I find it a wonderful opportunity with London Theatre Direct to be given the ability to go and see new dance productions and allow my passion for the craft to grow.

That’s #WhyILoveDance"