Imani was ten and she danced everywhere —
down the hallway, through the kitchen, up the porch stair.
She twirled while the pot bubbled, spun past the door,
till her mama called out, “There's my star on the floor!”
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Dance, Imani, Dance
A Ten-Page Story to Read and Color
Ages 6–10 · Black Coloring Books
Ages 6–10 · Courage · Dance · Self-Belief
Dance, Imani, Dance
A Ten-Page Story to Read and Color
Imani is ten and she dances everywhere — the kitchen, the hallway, the porch. But the day she auditions for the big summer show, the spotlight finds her and her feet turn to stone. She hides her shoes and swears off dancing forever... until her teacher Ms. Joy kneels down and tells her the truth every dancer knows: the stage is just your porch, child — with lights. Ten rhyming pages about stage fright, practice, and the night a brave girl leapt like a flame.
- Story spine
- Dancing everywhere · The frozen audition · Shoes in the closet · Ms. Joy's secret · The big leap
- Who you're coloring
- Imani, ten years old, long box braids with wooden beads, tall and graceful, happiest mid-twirl. Ms. Joy, her dance teacher, an older woman with silver-gray locs and a headwrap who danced on big stages and knows exactly what stage fright feels like.
14 pages · 8.5 × 11 PDF · cover, story pages and a blank plaque to finish
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Then the school held auditions for the big summer show —
every dancer in town would be there, so she'd go!
But the spotlight found Imani and her feet turned to stone,
and she stood in the silence on the stage all alone.
2
She ran off the stage and she hid her shoes deep
in the back of the closet, where the quiet things sleep.
“No more dancing,” she whispered. “I'm not that brave.”
But her heart kept on knocking like a drum in a cave.
3
Ms. Joy was her teacher, with silver-gray locs,
who'd danced on big stages and knew stage fright's knocks.
“Baby, listen. Every dancer feels fear up there —
the stage is your porch, child, just with lights in the air.”
4
So she practiced at sunrise, she practiced at night,
on the porch, in the hallway, till her steps all felt right.
The neighbors would clap as she leapt down the block,
and her courage grew steady as a ticking clock.
5
The night of the show, Mama braided her tight,
laid the costume out soft where it caught the moonlight.
“You don't have to be fearless to be brave, my sweet —
brave is being scared and still dancing on your feet.”
6
Backstage she could hear all the voices and hum,
her knees knocking soft like a little bongo drum.
She peeked through the curtain at the glowing stage:
“That's my porch,” she whispered. “Time to turn the page.”
7
The music rose up like a wave from the deep,
and Imani stepped out where the bright lights sweep.
Her first step was small and her second grew strong,
and by the third, the music carried her along.
8
She twirled like a whirlwind, she leapt like a flame,
and the whole room rose up and was shouting her name.
But she barely could hear them, so lost in her song —
'cause the stage felt like home, where she'd been all along.
9
She took her bow low with her roses held tight,
and her family stood cheering in the front row that night.
Everybody's got a stage where their brave heart belongs —
so tell me: what's YOURS? Where do you sing your songs?
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