Tatiana’s Story: The Dance Back to Life

At the StorySlam Performance held on June 25 at Johnson Public Library, Tatiana, a participant in the Hackensack Moves Dance Company, shared a powerful, deeply personal—and occasionally hilarious—story about resilience, movement, and finding her way back to joy.

Tatiana begins her story with the remarkable odds of simply being here at all: as a descendant of survivors of the Armenian genocide and as a child whose own path into the world was far from ordinary, she describes herself as someone who has been moving against the odds from the very beginning. Through sports, dance, and her passion for standing up to injustice, movement has always been part of who she is.

But in May 2024, everything stopped.

After experiencing burnout, heartbreak, and a deep emotional breakdown, Tatiana spent months withdrawn from the world and disconnected from the movement she had always loved. Eventually, a series of health diagnoses gave her another challenge to face. But Tatiana, as she tells it, decided she was “bored with depression” and started looking for a way back.

That way was movement—one tiny step at a time.

At first, even a three-minute walk felt overwhelming. But she kept going. She walked, researched, rested, moved, and gradually rebuilt her strength. Along the way, she discovered a local wellness center and signed up for everything—including yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, and classes led by the fabulous Miss Lateefah.

Then came an unexpected opportunity: Hackensack Moves Dance Company was forming at CMDE, and auditions were being held.

Tatiana didn’t think she had a chance.

She auditioned anyway.

And she got in, y’all!

Just months after struggling to walk for three minutes, Tatiana was back on stage, performing five dances in one night—African dance, modern dance, ballet, and belly dance—with the Hackensack Moves Dance Company. And because apparently five dances were not enough dancing for one evening, she continued celebrating and dancing until 2:00 in the morning.

Yes, she ended up in the ER with severe muscle cramps.

But as Tatiana points out, the paramedic told her they usually see that kind of condition in marathon runners.

Not bad for someone who could barely walk three minutes just seven months earlier.

Today, Tatiana continues to dance wherever life takes her—including the aisles of ShopRite, where the self-checkout machines are apparently quite familiar with “the dancing girl.” She has found strength, joy, community, and a renewed connection with herself through movement.

Her story is a beautiful reminder that healing is rarely graceful, predictable, or perfectly choreographed. Sometimes you take one step. Sometimes you fall down. Sometimes you end up dancing until 2:00 AM and discover that your enthusiasm has exceeded your muscle capacity.

But you keep moving.

For Tatiana, movement did more than change her routine. It helped her find her way back to herself.

Watch Tatiana’s full StorySlam performance and discover why, sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is simply take the next step—and then maybe dance a little. 💃✨