Personal Narrative: My Pursuit Of Musical Theatre

Anyone who knows me knows that I cannot dance. In fact, I can barely touch my toes, let alone do a split. My lack of ability has often been a hindrance in my pursuit of musical theater. My freshman year of high school I decided to try out for the spring musical, the ever-popular production of Bye Bye Birdie. I would say that approximately 90 people auditioned that year, a majority of who were in my same grade. I had prepared for weeks, rehearsing the song “Put on a Happy Face” with my voice coach, practicing the confidence I would need to earn a role as coveted ‘chorus member’ (freshman are rarely awarded main roles). As I entered the black box, I learned, to my dismay, that we would be preforming a dance routine as part of the audition. I, of course, botched the dancing portion and when the cast list came out, my name was notably absent. At first, I was baffled. Then I was devastated. Musical theater was my ‘thing’ and I didn’t necessarily know where I belonged if I didn’t fit into it.
I’ve grown up in a generation awarded for simply participating. We learned from a young age that effort is what counts and as long as you try hard enough, you will succeed. Before high school, this mantra rang true. I received roles in plays, got good grades, won awards; yet, as I grew older I began to understand that failure does not necessarily depend on effort; you can work incredibly hard and still fail. Despite putting in countless hours of preparation and having a relatively good voice, I had failed. I have been told all my life; don’t be afraid to fail because you will ultimately learn a great deal more from failure than success. I thought failure was supposed to teach you to try harder or to never give up; however, I learned something completely