Balancing Act

Balancing Act — page 5 — Along with Maya and Alana Rana sat a few rows above my parents The girls were on their feet They waved a sign that read Louie Lin Dancing Dynamo I chuckled seeing it for the first time It must have been Rana’s idea Maya Alana Rana and I had been friends since kindergarten We did everything together Even though none of them danced they had never missed one of my competitions They smiled and enjoyed their own little dance party It was the morale booster I needed to finish my routine with a bang I glanced at the clock Ten seconds remained in my routine until time was up If I went even a millisecond over it would result in a point deduction I clenched my core launching my body forward into the first of two somersaults After 8

Balancing Act — page 6 — standing up I lifted my hands into the air Then I flung my body into a no-handed cartwheel and tucked my chin to avoid throwing my head back My feet hit the ground firmly I prepared for my forward leap crouching down slightly to help build momentum My hamstrings stretched and released as I jumped into the air one leg in front of me the other behind toes pointed To finish it all off I landed gracefully Then I slid seamlessly into a split I pulled my shoulders back and lifted my arms I flashed one final smile for the judges The audience erupted in applause as the final note faded into the air That’s my girl shouted Dad

Balancing Act — page 7 — Dad and Mom jumped to their feet Well done Louie added Mom finally able to look As I jogged off of the mat I noticed Rana Alana and Maya make their way down the stairs They were headed straight for the scoring bench That was the spot where I now had to await the final verdict You nailed it shouted Coach Amy She wrapped me in a bear hug as I exited the mat That was incredible Not a single mistake You must be so proud of yourself Thanks I hugged her back But I don’t want to celebrate just yet Let’s get the scores first Coach Amy tousled my short black hair Always a competitor she laughed Coach Amy and I sat nervously on the bench I chugged a bottle of water Then I inspected the scoreboard hanging from the ceiling 10

Balancing Act — page 8 — Elena was currently in first place She had performed a flawless routine and was rewarded with a score of 18 0 very close to a perfect 20 0 Suzanna was in second place We had been on the same dance team for the past three years She had bobbled slightly on one of her balancing skills But she was close behind with a score of 17 5 Lucy in third place was a dancer from Boston She held on to a score of 16 5 Remember the top three dancers advance to the state championships whispered Coach Amy You only need to score higher than a 16 5 to make the cut I didn’t need the reminder We had built my entire routine knowing that I would need as many high scoring components as possible It had been a risk adding so many difficult moves if perhaps I should have been a bit more conservative in order to I wondered 11

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