No matter where you took dance classes, all dancers universally can relate to one another. From the long hours of rehearsal, to the crazy dress rehearsals and performances, dancers experience a lot of the same memorable moments.
1. The constant cracking of your joints.
Let's be real -- as you get out of bed in the morning every possible joint in your body cracks and pops. To any normal person, it’s the grossest thing ever, but to us dancers, it often goes unnoticed.
2. Bad days.
Every dancer, at one point or another, has had a bad day. Whether it’s at an audition when nerves get the best of you, or during a performance when you forget choreography, it happens. It’s usually extremely off-putting in the moment but looking back on it, without the bad days you wouldn’t be the dancer you are today!
3. Your dance family vs. biological family.
Being that so much time is spent in the studio, your dance friends become your second family. They always understand what you’re going through, they pick you up when you’re down, and the bonding that goes on during rehearsals makes the long hours, pain, and sweat, all worth it. Not to mention, they never fail to blow up your phone with hundreds of texts about the weirdest things.
4. Your makeup skills are on point(e).
After years and years of constantly doing your makeup for
competitions, picture days, and recitals, you’ve pretty much become MAC and
Sephora certified. Of course, you have to put a lot of make up on in order to be seen under the lights of the stage. The face contouring, winged eyeliner, gluing on false
lashes, its all second nature at this point!
5. The smell of hairspray.
Think of the many competitions and recitals where the cloud
of hairspray was more present in the room than actual oxygen. The overpowering
scent lingered in your nose for days! Smelling hairspray now brings back nostalgic
memories of running around backstage getting ready to go out and have a killer
performance.
6. Hearing old dance songs.
Dancers have all experienced going somewhere or listening to the radio and hearing one of the songs we’ve performed to. It's one of those conflicting times when you either want to crawl into a hole and pretend that routine never happened, or perform your heart out right then and there. Either way, even if you hated the routine, you still cave in and do a couple steps!
7. Dancers feet.
The parts of our body that are essential to us dancing in the first place are the things we love to hate: feet. After years of dancing, especially en pointe or barefoot, you typically develop calluses, bunions, and the dreaded ingrown toenails. You would think dancing barefoot or wearing sandals and flip flops would make us insecure, but us dancers think of it as showing off our hard work!
8. Getting costumes.
One of the best days in the studio is when you receive the costumes.
There really is no greater feeling than opening the boxes and bags to find a
new costume to add to the expanding collection you already have. The sequins,
glitter, fringes, and just everything makes you super excited to wear it and
perform.
9. When you execute something perfectly and no one sees.
The feeling you experience after nailing some perfect turns is truly indescribable. The worst part is, 95 percent of the time, no one is there to witness it or they happened to glance away at that moment. Obviously, you go around bragging and freaking out about it but surprise! No one believes you.
10. Muscle aches, major soreness, floor burns and bruises.
The way that us dancers have to move and bend often leaves us feeling (and looking) like we were hit by trucks. The muscle aches and pains are truly paralyzing and getting dressed or pretty much doing anything that requires leaving bed is a real struggle. We walk like we’re 90 years old and somehow manage to find new bruises on our legs every day.
11. Reluctantly graduating from the studio.
Unfortunately for most dancers, when you leave for college, you also end up leaving your dance studio. It’s impossible to forget putting hours and hours of effort into rehearsal each day, and making amazing friends and memories that will last a lifetime. You move on thinking about college dance teams and continuing your passion for the sport and finally get to thank your teachers for helping you to grow as a dancer, and more importantly, a person.
