For those of you who don’t know what a funeral is like, pray you don’t feel its hard sting for as long as you can. It is a bittersweet celebration of life lost and the lives of those who must go on living. It is a beautiful and horribly sad thing to endure. It was one of the most powerful things I have ever experienced to see the casket being carried down the hall. It moved me more than I could ever put into words.

Mr. Antonio Sisk was more than a dance teacher to me. He was a man I saw every day who, no matter how I felt when I walked in, you couldn’t help but laugh at his biting ‘tell it like it is’ attitude. Over the years he helped me grow not only as a dancer but as a person. Gaining his smile and laugh was my constant goal.

No one took me seriously as a dancer until Mr. Antonio gave me a chance. He worked with me, gave me private lessons, and pushed me harder than anyone because he knew what I had to give him even before I did.

He let me dance for him, gave me my confidence, asked me to become one of his principle dancers, and for years every summer I was his assistant when he taught the younger classes.

This past year he helped me choose a college, helped me make my audition video, helped and taught me my senior dance. He was there for me when I really needed him most.

At my Senior Solo, he was the first person I saw when I came off stage. He gave me that look of his and simply said, “Don’t let anyone ever tell you you’re a bad dancer.”

It was, by far, the best thing anyone has ever said to me.

This afternoon I told that story at his funeral in front of a large crowd. None of them where who I really wanted to tell it to though… I hope you can hear me wherever you are Mr. Antonio. You didn’t just define me as a dancer, but as a person.

All I can say is…. “Thank you”.