Hey everyone! My name is Charlye! I'm 17 and I have been a Michael Jackson fan since I was 3 years old. My parents would play MJ cassettes all the time and I would dance along to the music. I started dancing and singing at age 6. I saw my first MJ video when I was about 4 or 5. It was 'Smooth Criminal' and I'll never forget it. I saw him do the moon walk and the circle glide and I was like "Mom, Dad, I wanna do that just like him!" So when I finally started taking dance classes, his style of dance was the first thing I wanted to learn. I've been in many talent shows and dance contests and but I'll never forget my first talent show in the 2nd grade at E.T. Marine school. I wanted to dance so bad and knew it was gonna be to an MJ song but I couldn't decide which one I wanted to do. I finally decided on 'Smooth Criminal', because that one had a special meaning to it. I figured out all the moves on my own (no dance teacher), by watching the video over and over and over for weeks (mom and dad recorded it on VHS for me). I still have the tape but it's pretty worn out now. Needless to say I won the talent show, and I was so excited. I knew right then that this was going to be one of my talents. I was also singing at the time and my coach started to ask if I had been coached before and I was like 'um.. no'. I guess that meant I was good. I auditioned for the state choir at age 8 and made it in. I was the youngest one in the junior division. Everyone else was anywhere from 13 to 19 years old. Me and group of friends used to sing 'Leave Me Alone' as a warm up before practice switching off parts. A majority of the time though I sang MJ's lead part because I would really get into the feel of the song. We did this for many other MJ songs before my friends would pretty much just sit back and listen to me belt out MJ's songs. They would always applaud me and say 'Your totally the next Michael. But in girl form', and I would always laugh saying 'There's no way I'm as good as Michael. He's pretty much the peak.' Right now I'm a junior in High School and I still dance (hip-hop, jazz, swing, pop, and tap) and sing in the Ladies Treble Choir(honors choir offered at the high school). I've been accepted to a dance program in my area and we had our first practice last week. The instructor had us improv a dance at the last minute to place us in difficulty level and I, of course, had to incorporate some Michael moves. I got one of the top slots and I was placed in the advanced dancing group. The arts are totally my thing. Michael has inspired me to indulge myself in all of the arts to find my strengths and weaknesses. Not only do I sing and dance, but I also act, and play in the honors band at school with my Flute(I'm a 1st Flutist), I play the valve-trombone in the Jazz Band, drums in my best friends rock band, bass guitar on my own, and a number of many other instruments just for fun. Outside of the musical arts, I also do Martial Arts. I'm a black belt in Ninjitsu, a 1st degree brown belt in Kempo/Jiu-Jitsu(going for my black belt in this by the end of the year) and a blue belt in Ko-Do-Kwon(2 away from my black here). I have a teaching license in karate also. I teach at my instructors school on Saturdays to help out. I've always had a dream of getting a black belt triple in martial arts. My father is a black belt in Tae-Kwon-Doe(he started me in karate and now it's one my biggest passions). Michael has inspired me to do it all, and if I could ever meet him, I would thank him a million times for everything he's given to me and the world. There is no denying that Michael Jackson is a musical genius.