Dancing is difficult. Ask any dancer and they will tell you the same thing. It’s physically, mentally, and, at times, spiritually demanding. But despite the difficulty and sacrifice it entails, dance is fulfilling. It is challenging and comforting at the same time. It fosters the growth of the dancer both in and out of the studio. Dancing satisfies a thirst of the body that can’t be quenched by any other activity.
If you’re interested in starting a dance career or feel like trying it out, here are a few things you need to know before going into dance.
READ: Learn Classical Ballet with Lisa Macuja-Elizalde
5. Invest in your shoes
In dancing, it’s important to invest in a good pair of shoes. They serve a practical and aesthetic function. A good pair of durable shoes can provide the needed comfort during training (and God knows you’ll need a lot of comfort). It also help in boosting confidence. When you know you look good, your confidence builds, and that could improve your performance. It may seem as like a trivial matter, but a good pair of shoes could mean the difference between a good and stellar performance.
4. Some days, you will wake up in pain
Dancing is a lot like sports. Effort is necessary to see improvements in performance. The effort needed to improve requires sacrifices, and one of those is having constant physical pain in the beginning. During training, the body undergoes a certain amount of stress. This stress will later on translate into pain.
All those ache and soreness becomes rewarding, though, because they’re all a sign you are working on yourself to be better. It’s one of the things that make dancing such a worth while endeavor, especially when you start seeing the results.
3. Patience is important
Success doesn’t come overnight. This statement is especially true for dancers. When deciding to get into dance, one of the things people need to understand is that it takes time to see improvement. It’s a very slow process, but hard work, dedication, and consistency are some habits that will help speed things up and assure success.
2. Prepare to miss out
Dance is an artistic field that demands a lot from the artist, and one of those things it demands is time. The dancer must realize that if s/he wants to dance, well, they must make sacrifices and put dancing ahead of other priorities (this is where heartbreak comes in). The time needed to achieve a certain goal in dance (e.g. improving technique, stronger movements, better projection) requires time that will be taken from other aspects of the dancer’s life.
Hangouts and drinking sessions with friends might have to be sacrificed. Leaving parties early because of an early training the following day will become a normal thing for the dancer. Or dating another dancer might seem like a plausible solution, but that’s not always the case.
1. Dance is a lifestyle
Dancing is not just an art form, it is also a learning experience. Dedicating time into dancing puts the dancer through experiences that teach them values they can use both in and outside the studio. In the field of dance, the artist learns and develops practical skills such as organizing their resources, managing time, and controlling their stress. It also teaches values such as perseverance and patience which are learned better through experience. Dance pushes people out of their comfort zones and teaches them to work hard and sacrifice for what they want.
Dance is more than just movement; it’s a lifestyle of hard work, discipline, and growth. In that sense, dancing goes beyond the art.
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Special thanks to Andre Lauron, Sophia Gob, Bianca Tordesillas, Mel Carunungan, Gabe Ferrer, Iya Villanueva, Zoe Hukom, and Isabella Ocampo.
