I don't know if you guys know this, but we speakers were given a piece of paper with a bunch of questions on it in case we can't think of anything to write about...I'm feeling a little tired today, so I'm gonna answer one of these questions: What is your favorite creative outlet and how does it help you cope with life?

I have a few favorite creative outlets -- watercolor, writing, and dance. Yes, one of them is definitely dancing. I love to dance. I am 25, and all through with community college, but every semester I enroll in at least one jazz, tap, ballet, or hip-hop class simply for the expressional outlet (and for the exercise!) at SCC. Dance is one of those activities that helps me connect with my body rather than work against it.

Having grown up with an eating disorder, I spent a lot of time "body checking" (that is, staring in the mirror, critiquing things impossible to change) and criticizing myself. Years ago, I spent a lot of time trying to "undo" things about my body, trying to "fix" it. Dancing is a sport that helps me embrace my body, love it as it is, work with it, and accept it. When I am standing in a large open space -- be it a grocery store, a living room, an open studio with a wooden floor -- and music begins to play, the only thing my body wants to do is sway and reach and turn and plie' and bend and leap with the counts. It's grand...it's really grand.

All of the sudden, my limbs aren't inadequate or fat or stubby, they are tools for expression and strength and love and success! All of the sudden, my torso isn't inadequate or imperfect or too round or too frumpy, it is just as it needs to be to move to the music at hand, twisting and supporting a choreographic masterpiece!

So, dancing, I suppose, is my favorite creative outlet. Because it is mine, it is unique, and no one can take it away

Rachel