My Name is Makeda N’wabunkozi Marguerose Roney;
My Name is Makeda N’wabunkozi Marguerose Roney;
I am 16 years old and live in Harlem, New York. I began my dance training when I was 6 years at Dance Theatre Of Harlem. At 14 years old, I made the decision to go to boarding school for dance and attended the Walnut Hill School in 2009 . I enjoyed the school, but it wasn’t for me. So this year I began home schooling. Presently, I am a homeschool student and am on full Fellowship at The Ailey School.
Basically I am a pretty normal teen-ager, I love eating food, going on facebook , taking bikram yoga and having fun at the beach. I also have issues with my body, with injuries as well as image. For the past 2 years I have been getting constant injuries that has been pulling me back in my dance career. I had stress fractures in both of my second metatarsals (the second toe), groin strains, calf strains and I am just now slowly overcoming a back strain after not dancing for 2 months. I am a dancer so no matter how much I try to avoid it, body image will always be one of my main concerns because it has to look a certain way, and do certain things but I am also a teenager so there is pressure there are well. As a female dancer body image is always a concern. As I got older (and started filling out more) my body started to become an obsession. It was always the main thing on my mind and I couldn’t enjoy my life. Always watching what I ate and working out like a mad woman. I started to drive myself crazy! I am just now starting to learn how to respect my body and love my body the way that it is. Its something I have to work on in my mind everyday, but practice makes perfect and I believe that everybody should work on that too. We should all love our bodies (Its the only one you’ve got!) and stop abusing our bodies because we are not pleased with our image.
I want to free the people’s perception of how we see the world and the way we move in it. Some of the more honest and subtle images in the world are the most striking and convincing. I want to use dance as a visual tool that provokes, sustains informs the future of our world.
MR
Hey Makeda,
I love you for writing this, you are so wise beyond your years. I am a grown woman and I am still struggling with body image yet you at 16 can understand where your feelings come from,while addressing in turn. You are my inspiration for loving myself..thank u!! :0)Trina H.
My love, it warms my heart to see how you are thinging. If more people would stop and think about the things we do to your bodies, including myself, our bodies would reward us with healthier thoughts and try to strive to make life a little bit easier as we grow older. My hat is off to you, my lovely granddaughter, don’t let anything stand in your way for success in this crazy world we live in today. Will always love you..Goose