I am EunSeo Choi, a rising senior at Saint Johnsbury Academy Jeju. I started dancing when I was around six, first with ballet. Later, I did contemporary dance from second to fourth grade, stopped for a while, came back to it in seventh and eighth grade, and began Korean traditional dance in ninth grade.

My path in dance was never very straight. Since third grade, I have had knee pain, so I often had to pause and return again. At the time, I mostly saw those pauses as interruptions. It was frustrating to stop just when I felt like I was improving, or to come back and realize my body could not move the same way right away. But over time, those pauses changed how I moved. I could not always depend on speed, strength, or big movements, so I started paying more attention to smaller things like how my weight shifted or how my hands finished a movement.

The different styles I learned also stayed with me in different ways. Ballet taught me about lines and control. Contemporary dance made movement feel more open and free. Korean traditional dance taught me to notice breath, weight, and stillness. I do not see these styles as separate parts of me. They all changed the way I think about movement.