When you think of a dance instructor, sometimes you’ll picture an old lady - full of grace and wisdom. That’s sort of what I expected too. But I was shocked to see a young woman, full of energy, with a smile painted on her face. I’ve gotten to know Miss Abby over these past three years, and she has become like an older sister to me and many of the other dancers at 5678.

I’ve been in hip hop for four years, but Miss Abby wasn’t my teacher for all of it. I had a different dance instructor who we all loved, but she left unexpectedly after my first year. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take hip hop again, convinced I wouldn’t like the new instructor as much as the old one. But, I was wrong. Right when I met Miss Abby, I knew it was going to be a great year. And because of her enthusiastic personality and her fluid choreography, she became my favorite teacher.

All of her students can tell that this isn’t just a job to her. She teaches 13 classes and still remembers everyone’s names and faces. We can tell she cares about us by the way she listens to us, talks to us, and how determined she is to help us improve our dancing skills. Miss Abby asks how our weekend was or bug us about boyfriends. When we start learning new steps, she’ll always do, what we call, ‘The Abby dance.’ She’ll  start jumping around with her hands flailing in the air yelling, “Ah, I’m so excited!!” This always encourages and inspires us to continue practicing and working harder.

Miss Abby has put together dances for years, even when she’s under pressure. A few years ago, we had two girls unexpectedly drop out of the class -- one month before the performance. This left holes in the dance, so Miss Abby had to re-choreograph it. She worked extra hard to make sure we knew the dance before we got on stage. Though it was stressful, she did it. I remember when Miss Abby would stay after class to teach me the steps I didn’t understand. She would go out of her way to help all her students.

At the end of the year performance, all the students wait behind the curtain at the end of the night to do one last bow. After, we’re allowed to cheer and wave to our parents. Almost every year, we ask Miss Abby if we can carry one another on our backs. She then always tells us, “Go for it. But if anyone asks, I said nothing.” (And so far we haven’t got caught). She makes sure we have fun at the performance and afterwards she tracks us down to take a group picture.

Miss Abby is like a mix of our mom and a best friend. She shows she cares by taking the time to help us with dance steps, but she also talks to us about what’s going on in our lives. This is what makes her a wonderful dance teacher. Without her, I wouldn’t have learned that you can graceful when dancing, but still make it fun.