It's interesting that there is a lot of assumptions that everyone had the option to dance as a child. Not everyone comes from a supportive and stable home, not everyone has parents who are willing to drive even a few blocks to a dance studio or pay fees or attend recitals for their female children.
That was my experience. When I was young I wanted to dance more than anything else. I grew up in a hockey town and I had brothers, so they got to do the activities and I didn't. It was awful because it was the only thing I wanted to do. One of my meaner teachers always says, you should have learned this as a child as if I had a choice.
So when I was 24, I signed up for classes at the National Ballet School of Canada and worked super hard. Now 2 years later, I'm en pointe and dancing at an intermediate level.
