Everyone is part of a community, some you don’t realize you are in and some are very obvious. You have to have a community or a group of people to feel secure. It’s about finding somewhere that you feel safe to be yourself in.

Communities range from where they are to how big they are. Some are very large communities and some are small, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a big group to be successful it just has to have all the characteristics of a community. Some of the needed characteristics are leaders, followers, rules, a place you feel safe in, and where you feel like you are at home.

Finding a community is all about finding somewhere you fit in. You have to feel safe to be yourself there. I think communities can either really help you, or they can break you down. It is sometimes difficult to find someplace where you fit in, so the other people that are in the community can hurt you for change you into a person that you don’t want to be in. An example of this is Kady from Mean Girls, Kady tries to hurt “The Plastics” but instead becomes one of “The Plastics” and ends up hurting her real friends. Communities can be very beneficial to people though, they can bring people out of their comfort zone and make them who they really are.

A community that has really helped me is my dance studio. It’s a place that I can always be myself and talk to all the girls about anything, those girls that are in the studio with me and my teachers are my family, I can go to them for anything and I know that they will help me and give me advice. It’s an environment where I can be myself in and I know I will not be judged.

The dance community goes even further than just my own dance studio, we go to conventions and meet several other dancers that I instantly connect with. It is something you can talk about for hours to strangers and become friends. I have made several friends from different studios because I have one thing in common with them, dancing.

Communities come from all different sizes and meanings behind it, my dance community is small but has a large meaning. Everyone belongs to several communities, you just have to find the one you love. Everything and anything can be a community, as long as you have all the characteristics of a community.