Dancing better then yourself

Hello Readers,

I can't believe we are already one whole month into our crazy dance years. We are officially knee deep in a whole lot of projects and the ball is rolling sometimes faster then I can keep up with it.

The positive atmosphere in our studio is sticking around and growing as each day passes. But like anything in life sometimes a smidge of the negative creeps in.

When anyone is put in an environment when they want to try their hardest and do their best people can become competitive. It's part of who we are as humans. We do compare ourselves to others and sometimes we are our own worst critics.

When I talk to my dancers I want them to understand that striving to be like someone else is a good part of the goal they should push towards, but it should never be the WHOLE goal. As a dancer we need to realize that we can't be exactly like someone else. We are all different. We all shine in different ways. This is the beauty of dance. We are artists and athletes but we have to remember that no two dancers are EVER the same.

Baryshnikov said it best when he said "I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I simply try to dance better than myself" I love this quote. Because we need to know what our body limits are and what our potential is.

As I continue to push forward in this crazy dance world I see that accomplishment of dancers are being achieved at much younger ages. The dancers are little powerhouses of potential and they work so hard to learn as much as they can as quickly as time allows. Something I want these little work-a-holics to remember is that not everything comes out perfect right away. Not every dance day is the same. Sometimes turning comes easy to us. Sometimes leaping comes easy to us. Sometimes picking up choreography comes easy to us. We are all different and everyday is different. That's the best part of dance.

I want all our dancers to realize the importance of taking the time to reflect on their daily goals and accomplishments. Sometimes just sitting down at the end of the class (which all of my dancers do at the end of every class) and picking something they want to work on and picking something they are proud of from the day is just what they need to remember that we all have something we want to do better, but most importantly we all have something we are proud of from the day.

Sometimes when we have an off day the negative noise in our heads shouts above the positive praise we hear and say. I want people to remember that we are our worst critics and at times it is very humbling to be able to point out the areas that we need to work on. But we have to learn as people to accept a compliment and remember to compliment ourselves.

Dancing is what makes me happy. Sometimes I create dances that my dancers will talk about for months, and sometimes we do a combination that is totally craptacular and I don't like it at all. It happens. We are humans. But being able to appreciate what I learn from my "off" days and apply it to my next day to help make that next day be better is something I really want dancers to start doing in their daily routine.

Not every day will be perfect. We will not feel good about everything we do. But what we do need to do is take the time to pick out what really went wrong, how we can work on it to fix it and make it better, and remember that we did do something good as well. All of these things will help us stay on a forward moving path.

These things don't just apply to the dance world. I apply it to my everyday life as well (even though much of my world revolves around dance) I do see that recognizing my challenges and working to smoothing them out is important, but so is reflecting on the things that I do well and am proud.

Starting your day off with a goal and a proud of moment is a great way to kick off the day, but it's also a fabulous way to end your day. I hope that taking the time to do this in my dancers days is helping them stay focused but also positive in their dance days. They are fabulous and they do have things to work on. But that is the beauty of dance. It is ever changing and we will always have new things to learn, work on, and be proud of.

Until next time

Peace Love and Dance