"Working hard becomes a habit, a serious kind of fun. You get self satisfaction from pushing your self to the limit, knowing that all the effort is going to pay off." -Mary Lou Retton
Every serious dancer has had times when dance doesn't seem like the most fun thing to do at the moment, or their friend calls and asks them to hang out and do something fun. The most common response from a dancer is probably "sorry i am busy" or "sorry I have dance". This can be really difficult through the teen years. Friendships can be weakened, grades can plummet, and stress can heighten. It is hard to balance all these things, dance, a social life, and school. But these things are what sets dancers apart.
Every teacher wants to work with a passionate, dedicated dancer and sadly they aren't always easy to come around. Growing up as a dancer I have been lucky that school tends to come easy to me but what has been hard is balancing a social life and dance. However, dance pretty much is my social life. Most of my best friends I've meet from dance but not all of them share the same love for it as I do or go to the same studio. I also have best friends that don't dance which is also important. But with this I have realized that to be the dancer I want to be I must make sacrifices that means staying up till midnight most Wednesday nights even if I have a huge test the next day. It means getting my homework done on Fridays before I can hang out with friends, dancing all Sunday, and in competition season not hanging out with some of my friends for weeks on end. This can be hard and make you grow apart from friends but it is a decision you have to make if you want to reach your full potential.
Now, I'm not saying drop all of your friends and never have fun all you can do is dance. You need to also make time for those things as well because there is a lot more to life than just dance; but you need to manage your time. I go to almost all of the football and basketball games I've gotten to go to every school dance and spend many weekends having fun with my friends. But I also have had to be willing to give up those things once in a while to improve or have extra rehearsals.
In the end the hard work will pay off, you will reach your goals and your true friends will stick by your side and encourage you on your journey their. Their certainly is more to life than just dance but being a dancer certainly is a life style and one that is not for everyone.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
High School Dances
Dancing brings many people joy, people often find themselves dancing around their rooms, the grocery store, when they are with their friends and many other places. Even people without rhythm Dane when they are having a good time. The best thing about dance is the vast amounts of different ways you can dance.Now, school dances are nothing like competition dancing, although surprisingly they do have some similarities.
School dancing is a lot more free than competitive dancing, you can do whatever you want because there isn't certain moves you have to do at a certain time with certain music. It is just you dancing with your friends and classmates having a good time. You are squished in a room with everyone and it is very possible that your body is touching multiple people at once because everyone is squished in the center. School dances consist of a lot of jumping, singing, and fist pumps to the top radio hits and of course some classics like the cha cha slide, YMCA and the Cupid shuffle. Also it is extremely hot, sweaty, and humid at school dances.
The similarities between competition dancing and school dances is the amount of time girls put in to get ready. They spend a great amount of time making sure their hair and makeup looks perfect. They do their hair different than everyday and they generally apply more makeup than usual just to look their best for one night. Along with this also comes stress because of course your hair in makeup is never going to look perfect and girls usually always find something that could have looked better. Also it can be expensive just like competitive dancing, boys and girls go out and buy new outfits, shoes and all just to wear once. They also go out to dinner and pay for tickets to get into the dance, not to mention paying for pictures at the dance as well.
Some of your best memories in high school can be from the days of school dances because you are surrounded by a bunch of beautiful people having fun together. What could be better? I encourage everyone to go to every school dance they get a chance to go to and go in with in open mind. Who knows, you might have the best night of your life.
School dancing is a lot more free than competitive dancing, you can do whatever you want because there isn't certain moves you have to do at a certain time with certain music. It is just you dancing with your friends and classmates having a good time. You are squished in a room with everyone and it is very possible that your body is touching multiple people at once because everyone is squished in the center. School dances consist of a lot of jumping, singing, and fist pumps to the top radio hits and of course some classics like the cha cha slide, YMCA and the Cupid shuffle. Also it is extremely hot, sweaty, and humid at school dances.
The similarities between competition dancing and school dances is the amount of time girls put in to get ready. They spend a great amount of time making sure their hair and makeup looks perfect. They do their hair different than everyday and they generally apply more makeup than usual just to look their best for one night. Along with this also comes stress because of course your hair in makeup is never going to look perfect and girls usually always find something that could have looked better. Also it can be expensive just like competitive dancing, boys and girls go out and buy new outfits, shoes and all just to wear once. They also go out to dinner and pay for tickets to get into the dance, not to mention paying for pictures at the dance as well.
Some of your best memories in high school can be from the days of school dances because you are surrounded by a bunch of beautiful people having fun together. What could be better? I encourage everyone to go to every school dance they get a chance to go to and go in with in open mind. Who knows, you might have the best night of your life.
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Nuvo
This past weekend I attended the Nuvo dance competition and convention. It was a long, sweaty, fun, inspirational weekend that I will remember for a long time. One of the coolest parts of Nuvo is their amazing faculty. Nuvo is directed by Ray Leeper, and some other big names that are apart of their faculty are: Travis and Denise wall, Stacey Tookey, Kim Mcswain, Ivan Koumaev, Chebar Williams, Jason Parsons, Mark Meismer, and many more. Most dancers likely know a few of these professional dancers.
My favorite part about Nuvo and its faculty is how accepting and encouraging they are. They make sure you know you are special and know that where you are is a safe place where you can take risks. It is very important to take risks as a dancer and to push your limits to improve, and the staff did exactly that. They made sure you knew that just because someone was better than you today, you can always be better than them tomorrow if you work for it. The staff just put off a good positive vibe that was very encouraging. This lowered the pressure and made the weekend a lot more fun.
Another great thing about Nuvo is that they had a wide variety of classes. They had Contemporary, Lyrical, Jazz, hip hop, heels, tap, and ballet. Surprisingly one of my favorite classes was tap. This is strange because I do not take tap and haven't since I was probably around five years old. This was one of my favorites because of the teacher Anthony Morigerato. Not only was he an amazing teacher and a huge inspiration but he also holds the worlds record for the most amount of taps in one minute. Anthony understood that tap wasn't a lot of the dancers strong suits or may have seemed like a foreign language but he still encouraged everyone to try. To my surprise I still remembered basic steps from when I was younger and even picked up on a few ones but despite that I probably looked like I had two left feet. That didn't matter though because I was trying and having fun.
The whole weekend was one to remember I grew a ton as a dancer and even as a person. I have been inspired and look at learning choreography in a new way, I also feel a lot more confident because I know new things I can work on and have different tricks to approach things I need to fix. Lastly I got to dance with the best of the best and that is something I will never forget.
My favorite part about Nuvo and its faculty is how accepting and encouraging they are. They make sure you know you are special and know that where you are is a safe place where you can take risks. It is very important to take risks as a dancer and to push your limits to improve, and the staff did exactly that. They made sure you knew that just because someone was better than you today, you can always be better than them tomorrow if you work for it. The staff just put off a good positive vibe that was very encouraging. This lowered the pressure and made the weekend a lot more fun.
Another great thing about Nuvo is that they had a wide variety of classes. They had Contemporary, Lyrical, Jazz, hip hop, heels, tap, and ballet. Surprisingly one of my favorite classes was tap. This is strange because I do not take tap and haven't since I was probably around five years old. This was one of my favorites because of the teacher Anthony Morigerato. Not only was he an amazing teacher and a huge inspiration but he also holds the worlds record for the most amount of taps in one minute. Anthony understood that tap wasn't a lot of the dancers strong suits or may have seemed like a foreign language but he still encouraged everyone to try. To my surprise I still remembered basic steps from when I was younger and even picked up on a few ones but despite that I probably looked like I had two left feet. That didn't matter though because I was trying and having fun.
The whole weekend was one to remember I grew a ton as a dancer and even as a person. I have been inspired and look at learning choreography in a new way, I also feel a lot more confident because I know new things I can work on and have different tricks to approach things I need to fix. Lastly I got to dance with the best of the best and that is something I will never forget.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Healthy Dancers
Everyone knows that it is important to have a good diet, well dancers generally know that this is crucial. When doing so much physical exertion it is important that you are getting all the nutrients that you need.
Water is your new best friend. I especially have trouble with this on,e I forget to drink water or I just simply don't want to. Reality is that I have to suck it up and drink it anyways to keep me healthy. Not only does staying hydrated keep you healthy but it also decreases the probability of receiving a cramp. I think every dancer knows how it feels to be in the middle of a bar combination and have their foot cramp and have sharp excruciating pain. Luckily water can solve these minor road blocks.
Carbs are also very important. It is misconceived that carbs are "bad" for you when in all reality they are necessary for carrying out living functions they give you energy. Yes their are certain types of carbs that aren't as good for you like white bread and white rice. The only reason they are bad though is that they aren't natural they have been stripped of important nutrients.
Protein this can be received through shakes or bars, or regular food. Proteins are one of the most important foods you can be eating because they are considered "the building blocks of life." They just like carbs help carry out necessary functions to keep your body going. The only downfall of protein is if you get a protein over load causing strain on your kidneys. Luckily this is not common and would take outrageously immense amounts of protein which would make you feel sick before you got to the over load point.
These are only a select few of the important things that you need in your diet to keep you going through long hard dance practices. Make sure you keep a well rounded healthy diet all the time.
Water is your new best friend. I especially have trouble with this on,e I forget to drink water or I just simply don't want to. Reality is that I have to suck it up and drink it anyways to keep me healthy. Not only does staying hydrated keep you healthy but it also decreases the probability of receiving a cramp. I think every dancer knows how it feels to be in the middle of a bar combination and have their foot cramp and have sharp excruciating pain. Luckily water can solve these minor road blocks.
Carbs are also very important. It is misconceived that carbs are "bad" for you when in all reality they are necessary for carrying out living functions they give you energy. Yes their are certain types of carbs that aren't as good for you like white bread and white rice. The only reason they are bad though is that they aren't natural they have been stripped of important nutrients.
Protein this can be received through shakes or bars, or regular food. Proteins are one of the most important foods you can be eating because they are considered "the building blocks of life." They just like carbs help carry out necessary functions to keep your body going. The only downfall of protein is if you get a protein over load causing strain on your kidneys. Luckily this is not common and would take outrageously immense amounts of protein which would make you feel sick before you got to the over load point.
These are only a select few of the important things that you need in your diet to keep you going through long hard dance practices. Make sure you keep a well rounded healthy diet all the time.
Unused Potential
"Nothing holds you back more than your own insecurities." - anonymous
Dancing is abstract exotic movement, it can be beautiful, unique, intense, anything you want it to be and the only person stopping it from being what you want is yourself. Many dancers are scared to try new things and put their self out there for the fear of messing up, or being judged, or possibly even ruining their image. But what we as dancers need to realize is that others simply do not care enough to judge you. Dancers are so focused on their own selves and their own self images that they have no time to judge one another. If you thing about it, while you are dancing, do you judge anyone around you? No probably not. So why do we tell ourselves that other will?
The first step is to stop being your own worst enemy is to stop caring what the dancers around you think because chances are they aren't thinking about you in the first place. You are the only one holding yourself back from being better. What a shame it will be when your time as a dancer is up and you haven't reached your full potential because you were scared.
If you see a cool new challenging trick, try it. If you see a girl that is dancing bigger than you, try to dance even bigger than her. If you see movement quality or style you like but have never tried it now is the time to do it. Don't let the fear of messing up or looking weird or spastic stop you from increasing your talent level. You will be able to tell if you look crazy or your teacher will tell you. If or when this happens take it as a learning experience and not an embarrassing comment. In the end it is only going to help you improve.
Us dancers need to come together to help encourage one another to get out of our comfort zones and push each others boundaries. Do not let your potential go unused and wasted because what a waste that will be when your time as a dancer is up.
Dancing is abstract exotic movement, it can be beautiful, unique, intense, anything you want it to be and the only person stopping it from being what you want is yourself. Many dancers are scared to try new things and put their self out there for the fear of messing up, or being judged, or possibly even ruining their image. But what we as dancers need to realize is that others simply do not care enough to judge you. Dancers are so focused on their own selves and their own self images that they have no time to judge one another. If you thing about it, while you are dancing, do you judge anyone around you? No probably not. So why do we tell ourselves that other will?
The first step is to stop being your own worst enemy is to stop caring what the dancers around you think because chances are they aren't thinking about you in the first place. You are the only one holding yourself back from being better. What a shame it will be when your time as a dancer is up and you haven't reached your full potential because you were scared.
If you see a cool new challenging trick, try it. If you see a girl that is dancing bigger than you, try to dance even bigger than her. If you see movement quality or style you like but have never tried it now is the time to do it. Don't let the fear of messing up or looking weird or spastic stop you from increasing your talent level. You will be able to tell if you look crazy or your teacher will tell you. If or when this happens take it as a learning experience and not an embarrassing comment. In the end it is only going to help you improve.
Us dancers need to come together to help encourage one another to get out of our comfort zones and push each others boundaries. Do not let your potential go unused and wasted because what a waste that will be when your time as a dancer is up.
Dancing for free
Dancing is an activity that many possibly hundreds participate in to fill their time with something they particularly love to do. Dancing is - contrary to belief - a physically demanding sport that is something that I especially like to indulge in, with full participation. Although dancing like everything, has its downfalls, the biggest thing being the time and how costly it is. It being timely is not a big issue for die hard dancers that love the art, but money sometimes is an issue.
Being a competitive dancer costs an immense amount of money from studio time, to choreography costs, to costumes, to competitions, to travel costs, to hotel expenses and many other things. Luckily I have amazing parents that support me and will do whatever they have to, to give me the best opportunities to do what I love. For that I am endlessly grateful. However, just because you can't afford dance doesn't mean that you should let that stop you. There have been many extremely successful dancers that didn't have money on their side on their journey to the top. One example is Misty Copeland. Misty danced at her local boys and girls club and now is known as one of the most successful and influential dancers of modern time.
Generally boys and girls clubs will have average quality dance lessons adequate for most, but another option is to ask for a scholarship at a studio. Many studios are willing to give financial aid to young dancers with big hearts, goals, and dreams. You would have to already know basics and have a good foundation for them to be willing to do this. I would guess that an application and essay would need to be written for this as well.
Another great idea would be to start teaching your self on your own at first. Even some great collegiate dancers have done this. This is uncommon but it is a possibility. It is easy enough to look up YouTube videos and master skills, or stand in front of a mirror and see what moves or style you like best. It doesn't have to be costly to be a gifted dancer you may already have natural talent that is going undiscovered currently that you haven't tapped into yet. The worst thing you can do is let money keep you from doing something you love. It costs virtually nothing to find an empty space and move, not be told how to move but to move how you want to move. "It will cost you nothing to dream, and everything not to." - anonymous
Being a competitive dancer costs an immense amount of money from studio time, to choreography costs, to costumes, to competitions, to travel costs, to hotel expenses and many other things. Luckily I have amazing parents that support me and will do whatever they have to, to give me the best opportunities to do what I love. For that I am endlessly grateful. However, just because you can't afford dance doesn't mean that you should let that stop you. There have been many extremely successful dancers that didn't have money on their side on their journey to the top. One example is Misty Copeland. Misty danced at her local boys and girls club and now is known as one of the most successful and influential dancers of modern time.
Generally boys and girls clubs will have average quality dance lessons adequate for most, but another option is to ask for a scholarship at a studio. Many studios are willing to give financial aid to young dancers with big hearts, goals, and dreams. You would have to already know basics and have a good foundation for them to be willing to do this. I would guess that an application and essay would need to be written for this as well.
Another great idea would be to start teaching your self on your own at first. Even some great collegiate dancers have done this. This is uncommon but it is a possibility. It is easy enough to look up YouTube videos and master skills, or stand in front of a mirror and see what moves or style you like best. It doesn't have to be costly to be a gifted dancer you may already have natural talent that is going undiscovered currently that you haven't tapped into yet. The worst thing you can do is let money keep you from doing something you love. It costs virtually nothing to find an empty space and move, not be told how to move but to move how you want to move. "It will cost you nothing to dream, and everything not to." - anonymous
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