Night At The Davis

Chloe Walker MD
Dec 16, 2023
3 min read

"When you walk onto a set you have to know who you are. It's not about confidence. It's about that feeling of always feeling you are in process and that you can be better. Anybody who even wants to be great has that. What it does on a healthy level, it keeps you humble and it keeps you working..."

~Viola Davis

No matter what I do in life, I always want to stay in that humble space of growth. Challenging myself to get outside my comfort zone and come up a little bit higher. I have discovered when you can be willing to do this, you always gain so much more than you might have thought possible!

On December 1st through 3rd, I had the honor and privilege of dancing in the Nutcracker with the Alabama River Region Ballet as a party parent. The magic of dancing with my beautiful ballet and ballroom community, the time in rehearsals, trying on costumes and being on stage, was all truly the experience of a lifetime that is too rich to put into words.

On the night of our first performance, my fellow party parent dancers laughed as we tried to get dressed in our heavy corset dresses and bustles. We jokingly called it "life-skills in the dressing room." We all agreed that you must put on your character shoes first, then step into the rest of your costume. If you don't...you won't be able to bend over and breathe to put your shoes on lol.

This is actually a beautiful representation of the "process and preparation" that always must come before the "dance." In reflection of my experience here are a few of the "life-skills" I gained in the dressing room:

Put your shoes on first. First you have to put on your shoes so to speak. The shoes represent the process of preparation. Learning the footwork and feeling comfortable in your lane. There are many times when you may feel weary in repeating the steps or mess up but just keep going!
Slip into your dress. The dress represents your vision and calling. Just as there are several layers to the dress, there are layers to your calling that take time to step into. The weight of the dress may feel a little heavy at first because you haven't put it on fully yet. As you begin to emerge and put your arms through the sleeves and your head through the top you begin to feel more comfortable and confident.
Find your tribe. Your tribe represents your community of support who is cheering for you. It's humanly impossible to do this dance by yourself. You need your tribe at all times to help you-in preparation, during and after the performance.
Enjoy the dance. The dance is the joy and celebration of the manifestation. When you are in your calling, you know it because it will feel like a dance. Although it takes time to emerge for the dance, you really had it in you all along.

Because I said yes to this opportunity, I gained such a talented beautiful community of lifelong friendships. I gained numerous life-skills and a few new moves along the way lol. Most importantly, I gained the awareness that there is always room for growth!