Transcriber: Yasushi Aoki Reviewer: Elisabeth Buffard
This is me being great when I was age two.
(Laughter)
Here I am again at four.
You may not see it.
You may not recognize it.
But I'm being great.
We are all great.
We're all born that way.
Here I am again earlier this year
at the world's largest ballet competition,
the Youth America Grand Prix.
I won a gold medal and as a result,
I gained a solo at Lincoln Center in New York City.
(Applause)
Thank you.
(Applause)
It was my dream come true.
This is the text that I sent my dad right before I went on stage.
[Authorizing myself to be great today, daddy!]
(Laughter)
We have a lot of conversations
about greatness and excellence in my family.
And a lot of conversations around competition,
performance and dancing.
About technique, nutrition and lots and lots of classes.
And my mom is my coach.
I don't always enjoy my classes although I mostly do.
I don't always like the coaching I get,
however I always enjoy performing
and the classes are the cost of admission.
One day before the regional semifinals a couple years ago,
I was being really hard on myself.
My parents said,
"It's time for you to stop competing."
I was a little surprised.
The regional was coming up and I was looking forward to competing.
But they said, "That's it. No more.
Now it's time to really just dance.
To just perform, to enjoy yourself.
You will still be in the competition
but now it's time for you to go and just dance."
They continued,
"It's time for you to stop judging and evaluating yourself.
That's not your job.
Everyone else in the world
can and will continue judging and evaluating you.
It's just what people do, especially the judges.
That's their job.
But you are the only one who can authorize yourself being great.
You are the only one who can own your own greatness.
That's your job."
So this is what I've come to understand.
I love dancing
but if you love to paint, go paint.
If you love science, experiment.
If singing is the thing, belt it out.
Be yourself and be great.
We all get so busy playing this excellence game,
that we forget that.
We are all born into excellence.
Now while it's important to work to achieve what we want,
excellence isn't greatness and never will be.
Like red would never be blue, duh!
Our satisfaction doesn't mind our achievements or rewards,
though they are fun.
It lies in remembering who we are
when we connect,
when we see ourselves in each other,
when we remember who we are.
So final thing to leave us today,
it's go and remember who you are,
...and who you are is great.
(Applause)
(Music)
(Applause)