My high school PE teacher pushed me from uneven bars to dancing from a rope

In junior high, our gym P.E. teacher seemed barely older than we were, likely straight out of college, and many times I suspected her of being secretly competitive with us students. Sure enough, when she taught the class how to use the uneven parallel bars, she showed me her true colors.

"Marci, come up here and try this trick, I'll spot you." She knew I could pretty much do anything, try anything, I had taken gymnastics & ballet for a few years. So, courageous girl that I was, I flung myself around the wood, flying, splaying, praying that I would not splat onto the mat.

Gloria was not even there!
I noticed, as I elevated myself off my ankles, from the deep crouch of my stick. She had walked away, and left me to possibly fall without a monitor to my momentum. "Oh, I see you figured out that you had to bend your knees" she mumbled, jeering over me.

Needless to say, when I appeared at the Cheerleading auditions, she and her bff chemistry teacher Ms M. got into a huddle. When they emerged, I saw there was a black line through my name and Gloria had successfully rid herself of her greatest competitor, a 14 year-old girl.

At first, I was outraged. I could do better splits, turns, somersaults, and high kicks than anyone there. Humph! But after the basketball season began, and I saw the boring unison routines that the girls were doing, how they all had to become one of a crowd. I realized Gloria had done me a huge favor.

The next year I went on to become the youngest Choreographer in the history of my High School, restarting their Musical Comedy tradition. I persuaded the choir director I was a capable collaborator, and staged "The King & I" with my best friend Rick from community theatre as the male lead, and myself as the dance lead.

The next year we did "Carousel", and it was just the beginning of a long, long career in the performing arts...

Because of a jealous gym teacher, I was blocked out of being a cheerleader, and instead became an improvisational explorer, dangling from ropes and being flown from the rafters!

Instead of the strict structure of a colorguard team, I was led thru the Door of boundless imagination...

THANKS to Creative Intelligence and the Flow that Knows, I was chosen to go the way I am today.

May you always fly when you least expect it!

Source: zenartsla.com via Marci on Pinterest