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Me in Six Words

Andrea Torres-Cortes

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Family

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Games

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Creative

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Series

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Dance

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Daring

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This is my story about Dance. I have two older brothers and they’re both hug role models of mine. I remember in 2012 when my brother Ivan joined Ballet Folklorico and he loved it, so I thought “I should join too”. My brother was extremely supportive of my decision although he might’ve thought that I was the annoying little sister that wanted to be a part of everything he did. He taught me the most basic step, the zapateado. I quickly fell in love with Folklorico and I was eager to learn more. My first performance was just a few weeks after my first practice and it didn’t go too well. My bun was falling apart in the middle of the choreography and I forgot some of the steps; regardless, I wasn’t discouraged. Ballet Folklorico was truly a way to stay in touch with my roots and that made me love it even more. I was born in Mexico and I visit every year but folklorico gave me a bigger understanding of my culture. One year when I went to Mexico I asked my aunt who sews if she could make me a custom Folklorico dress and that’s where the green dress came from. Green was and still is my favorite color. I continued to dance folklorico for ten years with some of my lifelong friends. It wasn’t until my generation of dancers graduated high school and parted ways that we all stopped dancing folklorico. Despite dance not being a big part of my life anymore, I still consider it a word that describes me as it was a huge part of my life and has had a big impact on who I am today.