FORWARD IS THE ONLY DIRECTION WE MOVE

Growing up in Italy, my mother asked me the common question of every parent when I was 5 years old: “what do you want to be when you grow up?” My answer: “to be the President of the United States of America.” Back then I didn’t even know the meaning of what I was saying, but I liked how it sounded. Shoot for the stars and land on the moon - that is how I have lived my life.

Years later, I find myself understanding the true reason why I came to this great country. We are at a time where the dance community has disintegrated and where the priorities are moving in the wrong direction and with the wrong purpose.  I strongly feel that we have to learn from the past and project our vision onto what we want the dance industry to become for ourselves and for the global dance community; even for those who don’t know what dance is.  We need to find a way to rejoin forces together under the common goal, love and passion that brings us together.  That passion that ignites the fire in young dancers, professionals, adjudicators, competition organizers, managers, volunteers and social dancers and unites us all in this wonderful world of dancing. We need to go back to the root and find a way of communicating with each other with the common goal of developing our USA Dance federation into what it should have already been. In a way, what it once was and what I was so lucky to experience competing for my home country of Italy.