Final Bow
I have been dancing ever since I can remember. It has been the special thing about me my entire life. Everything surrounding dance has been so promised until now but it's time to see if every sacrifice was truly worth it. I am finally graduating and having to leave a part of me behind. I will never be on a stage with these people ever again, and we will likely split off the path in our lives that crossed.
During my time at Allegro I have grown in so many ways. All of my teachers have shaped me into not only the dancer that I am but the person. I am forever grateful for everything I have experienced here. Coming in as a terrified 12 year old that only knew that I loved dance and coming out the other side of this program ready to do the dream. I can’t believe it. If I got to do it all over again I would pick Allegro for my forever studio again and again.

I'm a senior this year and there are a lot of lasts. Last solos to learn, last shows, last classes, last moments. It’s going by so fast I feel like I’m watching my life go by me in fast motion and I’m just trying to catch up. Now that I’m in the homestretch there will never be enough time but I don’t want to let it go.
Invest in the time that you have. Invest in the opportunities. Invest in friendships. Invest in yourself. You will never be the main character in anyone else’s story but you are for yours, make your story mean something. I took so much for granted and now that I can really feel the end date coming. I wish I could go back to the little 12 year old me that walked through those doors and knew this is home. I never thought that in 6 months, everything will be over, that I will be expected to move onto my next chapter. Being expected to have some magical, beautiful planned future ahead of me. That I will take my finale bow on that stage. Saying goodbye to the friends, movements, and joy I’ve shared with so many and only have memories to take with me.
Wherever you are in your dance journey, don’t waste a moment. I wish someone would’ve shaken some sense into scared, insecure me sophomore year and told me that these will be the best days that I will never get back. The endless days in the studio that all we did was train. That nothing will ever be as promised as it is right now. Once you graduate there will never be another community like this, somewhere where you can always go back to and know all your people will be there. That everything will change and that I only had two more seasons to soak in before I was the one sobbing through my final bow.
By Guiliana Giammusso
January 2025