Ms. Gupton, Minister (Aunt) Kim, Ms. Pickney (Ma P) and Dorinda. Let me first say, I wish I would have pulled your names a lot sooner, as I can’t think of a time in my life when I wasn’t dancing. Nevertheless, Thank You. Thank you for taking a shy, super skinny and semi awkward girl with big feet and turning her into a dancer. Thank you for helping mold my passion for dance into an amazing opportunity. I fell in love with the art of dance while clogging (yes clogging) with Ms. Gupton. I learned how to bring a dance to life and minister to a crowd from Aunt Kim. I learned to embrace all forms of dance from Ma P. And I learned technique, choreography and how to dominate the stage from Dorinda. Thank you all. I’ve said this time and time again, and I’ll say it once more, dance was truly my distraction from destruction. I don’t care what was going on in my life, I knew if I could just find a song, an instrumental even, the rest would come easy. Thank You! 

  
I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to teach some of the most vibrant young dancers and I can only hope I’ve done for them at least half of what you did for me. Thank you. I’ve danced on stages across the US and I even had the opportunity to dance with some kids at an orphanage in Africa. Thank you! I’ve gotten paid to do something I would have done for free, and I didn’t have to take my clothes off 😜 Thank you! I’m more known for dancing than I am for anything else and for that alone I have to say Thank You. The stage was my home away from home, it was my way of escape, my way of communicating without having to say a word. Falling in love with dance caused me to fall deeper in love with life. Thank you, thank you all! 

And 5, 6, 7, 8