Lessons from Dance

As you may know from my previous posts, I used to be a dancer. And growing up as a competitive dancer was not always easy. The time commitment and hard work that was put into it was often undermined by my peers. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “dance is not a sport”. And I couldn’t disagree more. Competitive dance is very much a physical sport. It requires technique, skill, memorization, precision, courage, strength and grace, all at the same time. One of the great things about this sport was the amount that I learned over the years. I truly grew and developed into who I am today because of some of the lessons learned from dance. So here are a few things I learned from dance (excluding pirouettes, fouettes, and other various combos):

1. Time management. I could not have possibly passed school and danced if I had not learned time management. In fact, to this day my mother credits my good time management skills to my time as a dancer. I had school all day and dance all night, with competitions almost every weekend, so it became crucial that I learn how to manage my time and fit homework and sleep into my schedule. Honestly, I have never been more organized and well prepared than I was when I danced.

2. Team work. Dance is a tricky sport. It’s very competitive, individually. (Actually that is mainly the mothers. I never felt very competitive against the other girls in my group, but the mothers compared us to each other all the time, making it slightly competitive). However, unless you are doing a solo, dance is a team sport. You train as a team, you learn choreography as a team, and if one member of your team is falling behind or struggling, it affects the whole group. So you learn to work with one another and play off of each others strengths. You learns that everyone has different strength and weaknesses and that is what makes you a diversely skilled group. You learn to lean on one another when necessary. And you learn that spending 6 days a week traveling, dancing, learning, and growing with one another turns you more into a family.

3. Giving it your all. Unfortunately I didn’t learn this lesson until it was too late. But in class we were always told to practice full out, facial expressions and all, so that when we got to competition we would be so used to going all out that it would just be second nature to us. However, I have always cared too much about what others thought of me, which actually served as a disservice to myself in some way. I never used facials. I never went all out for fear of looking silly or goofy or overly confident or over the top. However, when everyone else is smiling and “ooh and ahh”ing, you actually end up looking like the silly one for not making facial expressions. I was afraid to have too much fun with my dancing for fear of losing control and/or being made fun of. But looking back I realize that sometimes letting go is exactly what is needed. And sometimes giving it your all and really going for it is actually much less embarrassing then playing it safe.

4. Work ethic. You do not simply wake up one day being able to do a tricky turn sequence or one footed wings. You practice. You practice every day. You practice while you are in dance class, you practice while you are waiting in the lunch line, you practice when you’re day dreaming in class, you practice when you are brushing your teeth. You have a continuous loop of “5, 6, 7, 8” playing in your head as you mentally run your dances over and over again. (I have scuffed up every surface in my house and every grocry aisle and school hallway, marking dances over and over again). You work for the skills that you earn. Yes, some people are more naturally talented than others. But in order to memorize 5 or 6 different choreographies for a single competition, you have to practice. There is no way around it. There is something so wonderful about seeing “you get out of it what you put into it” played out in real life.

5. Sportsmanship. This was a hard one. There were so many times that Pierrette Sadler’s dancers were called for platinums as our team just sat and internally rolled our eyes. There were ever times when people from your own studio would win and you found yourself letting out a big sigh. But during the awards ceremony when you are sitting on a stage with all of the other dancers from the whole competition, and all of the judges and parents sitting in the audience watching you, you quickly learn to graciously accept whatever comes your way. You shake hands, you clap, and you cheer for other studios (while silently cursing them). Yes, of course you will probably pick apart the competition on the bus ride home, but in the moment you learn to appreciate the other dancers and handle yourself with grace.

So although some may not consider it a sport, I learned some vital life lessons through my years as a dancer, and I wouldn’t trade in those years for any other “sport”.

Here is one of my favorite dances that I ever did. I have never worked so hard at a dance in my life. We literally worked on this until it was nearly flawless. And while it was hard work, I have some amazing memories with my teammates. Plus it felt good to work so hard at something and get something so great out of it. Disclaimer: The video quality is crappy.