“Maddy’s World”

Madelyn Yang

Maplewood, Minnesota | Hmong | She/her/hers

I am 12-years-old right now. My real name is Madelyn Yang, but a lot of people call me Maddy. I really love dancing and I can’t stop dancing. I’ve been dancing since I was little. One of my favorite memories was dancing at the Walker Art Center when I was nine years old. I made a lot of friends from this experience.

It started when I was asked by my dance teacher, Ms. Will, to perform with her group “I am from.” After learning the choreography and with lots of practice, I was ready to perform. There was 11 other dancers. We performed to a song about Black Lives Matter. The Walker Art Center liked our performance so we were invited to perform at one of their Choreographers’ evening events (at the McGuire Theater). Ms. Will had us practice as a group, added a few new dance moves, and then we performed in front of our friends, family, and strangers! I was so excited!

On the day of our performance at the Walker Art Center, it felt like I  waited a very long time to get on stage. Maybe it was because I was too excited. My friends and I passed the time by sliding down a slide. The adults eventually told us to stop sliding, but then it was time to perform!

It was very fun performing! Everyone cheered and clapped. We even performed twice! After the show, our group was asked to sign our names on the theater’s wall. Now our names are at the Walker Art Center forever!