In Menlo Park, California there is a remarkable modern dance teacher named Judith Komoroske. She works with children and adults. Every year she presents a children's dance recital, and occasionally a major adult program. Our daughter Kate has been in her program for the past three years. On the evening of May 4th, the children had their yearly recital. There was our Katie along with other energetic, free-spirited seven and eight year olds swaying with the music, finding their "voices."

Judith believes that everyone is a dancer. There is no ideal body shape. There is no ideal age. The dance is the thing. Her gift for drawing out that inner spirit in each child (and the adults, too) has given this community a great gift. Her influence in the lives she has so powerfully touched will go on for decades to come, and will probably help shape the lives of these children's children.

The children range in age from four to sixteen. Some are tall, some are short. Some are big and heavy, some are small and petite. All are finding their voices. I marvel at Judith's ability to have a clear vision about the spirit of development. These children will grow into strong, confident adults who feel good about their bodies and will not be shy about self-expression. All of us have had, I hope, mentors in our lives like Judith Komoroske - people who saw a potential in us that we could not see in ourselves. Somehow, those people helped us give birth to ourselves.

I like to think of the work we do in our speech communication programs, PowerSpeaking® and HighTechSpeaking®, as similar to what Judith is doing in dance. Many people come to us feeling inadequate as communicators, perhaps even traumatized by some childhood speaking disaster. Our job is to help them find their voice, to help them quiet those inner critics from long ago. Our job is to help them stand tall, throw their shoulders back and "Let 'er Rip!" It is a glorious moment when that happens. As in modern dance, there is no ideal body shape or size. Everyone is a speaker. Some are shy and timid, some are outgoing and confident. Some are technical, some are motivational. Everyone is a speaker. Our job is to help them find their voice.

Judith Komoroske recalled that someone once said to Martha Graham, "You are often called a genius," to which she replied, "Nonsense. We're all geniuses. It's just that most of us give it up in the first few seconds of life." Our goal as trainers is to help recover that natural speaker that many of us gave up in the first few years of life. Who helps you find your voice? Treasure those people. Tell them they matter to you.