Sticking Out Not Fitting In: The Cindy Reed Story
by Cindy Reed | WeINSPIRE Contributor
Upstate New York — When you meet Cindy Reed, on the surface you’ll see that she is a freelance professional dancer, writer, and an aspiring actress. What you won’t see is all of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into Reed being who she is today.
Freelance professional dancer Cindy Reed. Photo courtesy of Cindy Reed
Since she could walk, she loved to dance. Little did Reed know that dancing would be an important cornerstone in her life. In the third grade, in Upstate New York, she began to struggle academically. Her teacher just assumed that she wasn’t listening or had a hearing problem. This led to Reed having her hearing tested but the results showed she was fine.
“I took lots of academic tests after that, and they came to the conclusion that I had what everyone loves to call a learning disability,” Reed said. “I hate that label, by the way.”
After learning she had a non-verbal learning disability, she noticed that the number of friends she had dwindled away and the bullying began. Her parents fought hard for her to be placed in the resource center so she could get the extra academic help she needed. When she was finally placed in it she noticed that the majority of the other children were there because they were the labeled troublemakers in school.
The bullying still proceeded through sixth and seventh grade. This made her parents become fearful of Reed’s safety. Fights had become normalized at her school and her parents wanted Reed to have no parts in it. In the beginning of seventh grade she was sent to a private school. Although it didn’t compare to public school, Reed still experienced bullying at her new school.
Reed began to feel emotionally lost. Her self-esteem was eating her alive. Although she transferred to private school, she still had to attend public school in the morning to take the classes that were too hard for her at her new school. Reed found comfort from her academic struggles in dancing but even that had its own challenges.
Cindy Reed dancing. Photo courtesy of Cindy Reed
“My weight escalated after age 13,” Reed said. “It wasn’t to an obese level, but it was overweight for a dancer. If I felt down I would eat and had trouble stopping even though I knew it would affect my body and possibly my dance career.”
At the age of 14, Reed’s dance teacher threatened to take her out of the end-of-year performance if she didn’t lose ten pounds and fit into the white tutus they were handing out. She ended up not fitting it but performed well in the pink one anyways.
But academically, Reed still wasn’t performing well. In the ninth grade her parents took her out of private school and looked into the General Educational Development (G.E.D) program. They found a program that allowed her to study for her G.E.D. for half of the day and a career for the remainder.
“I entered the G.E.D. program when I was sixteen,” Reed shared. “The program was great for me. I was excelling academically and making friends socially. I was still a bit of an introvert but dance was, and still is, my source of expression.”
Reed ended up passing the G.E.D. test with flying colors. While in the program she studied for her Individualized Education Program (I.E.P) diploma and received her high school diploma as well. Reed eventually went on to college and graduated with honors. From there she was admitted into the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She fell in love with New York City and ten years after leaving the dance theater she started booking professional dance jobs.
Cindy Reed dancing. Photo courtesy of Cindy Reed
“I never gave up on my dream against many odds of what people call a learning disability,” Reed said. “To me, it should be called a learning difference. I learn a different way than everyone else. I like being different, so if I could change anything about my life, I wouldn’t. My struggles made me who I am today—a strong independent woman who loves to dance and impacts others with her gift.”
