The Power of Devotion

     God's grace was the ultimate goal of life for most Puritans. To become a purer form and lead a purposeful life, Puritans believed that they had to devote themselves to God and nothing else. They believed that materialistic views on life eventually leads to disaster and distress and consequently "to [their] God [their] heart[s] will cry" (Bradstreet 8) in helplessness and in sorrow. They believed that in order to earn God's glory, they had to pray to God and beg him for forgiveness from their sins.
     As a dancer, my purpose in life is to portray the serenity and joy of life. My goal is to show my community the happiness and positive aspects of life and to create joy and enjoyment in theirs. Just as the Puritans believed in God and believed that God brought them the peace and control they needed in life, I believe that God gives me the energy and memory that I need to bring happiness and joy for myself and my audience. I believe that the power of devotion to God helps me, as a dancer, achieve my goal of bringing my best work to the audience and proving  to them that dance is more than just a performance, it is an art. My goal in life is to prove that the art of dance always shows the extremes of life such as happiness and sadness, guilt and pride, peace and disruption, and joy and anger.  With God's grace, I believe, like the Puritans, that I can transform into the "purest form" of a dancer in order to bring the happiness I strive to see in my community.

Welcome to the Spotlight

     A dancer's job is to portray the beauty and style of his or her culture. I know this because I myself am a dancer. My job as a dancer is to show the world my culture and values and perform the stories used to acquire and learn those values. If you really think about it, my job is kind of hard; I have to take stories from my cultural backgrounds, understand the deeper meaning and morals, and in a way teach other people the beauty of the stories and morals. If my job itself is hard, how hard do you think it is for hidden cultures to enter the spotlight again? How hard do you think it is to know that America pushed your culture into the shadows in order to celebrate the myth of one man who did terrible things? Well this is the reality for many people of Native American descent. 

     The well-known Christopher Columbus was the man of a myth, a man who many believe discovered America. The actions of Christopher Columbus are taught to children all around America and it is very painful to know that many children have to live their life knowing such a terrible lie. The Native Americans were the ones who originated in America, hence the name "Native Americans." Native Americans discovered America and helped Columbus when he first arrived there. In return, Columbus killed many of the population on the Caribbean Island that he landed on. Over the period of 60 years, Columbus was responsible for killing so many people as to decrease the population from about 250,000 to only a few hundred. Columbus mistreated and forced Native Americans to be pushed into the shadows. If you try to look into this issue, you will realize that many of our knowledge of Native Americans is limited because "We don't study the dozens of Supreme Court cases involving Native Americans spanning hundreds of years" (On Columbus Day, A Look At The Myth That 'All The Real Indians Died Off, Leah Donnella 1), instead we are taught about terrible people like Christopher Columbus, and about other "American" events like the Civil War. America completely ignored the existence of Native Americans but it is now time to bring back their culture and make them equal and important in today's society. It is time to make it easier for people of Native American descent to represent their culture and learn that their ancestors had a role in American history. It is time to help their culture be represented as easily as mine is. It is time to give them a chance to show the world the beauty of their stories and culture. It is time to let them take a place in the spotlight. It is time to give them the chance to dance.