We have all done something that molded us into who we are today. For me, that was dance. When you dedicate countless hours and days to an activity, it shapes you. Dance is an art and a sport all in one. What many people may not realize is you get a lot more than just exercise out of dancing. Whether you are the parent pouring money into dance or the dancer sacrificing countless things to dance, just remember everything you are getting out of it.
1. Control
Dance does not just teach young girls and boys about controlling your limbs and body through movements. As you progress through the years, you learn to control the emotion and feeling of dance movements. This can be harder for some than holding your leg up for an hour.
2. Discipline
You must listen to your instructors in dance. Not just because you are supposed to, but because dance is an extremely strenuous activity. You will hurt yourself if you do not understand what you are doing. From a very your age, dancers are taught to listen and watch. You learn how to push your limits while listening to when your body tells you to stop. Many people are never disciplined in this skill.
3. Creativity
No two dancers are the same, and no two people see the same thing in a dance. Dance teaches you to listen and feel the music while dancing. Originality is a huge element in the dance world and one that many everyday people struggle to master.
4. Focus
If there is one thing you learn real quick at long rehearsals, it is that the sooner you get it right, the sooner you get to leave. It is absolutely amazing at how much faster things get accomplished when people all set their minds to. It is incredibly way to easy to drift off in thought and become a beat behind or a step off beat.
5. Listen
Dancers learn to listen to everything: the music, your instructor, your peers, your body, and yourself. No one of these is more important than the other. It is certainly not as easy as you would think to pay attention to all of these elements, but you have to balance more than just being on your toes.
6. Perseverance
If dancers do not learn to get up when they fall, they are not much of a dancer. You could not keep track of how many times a dancer has fallen out of a turn, crashed to the floor from a leap, or had her feet slip out from under her randomly. It simply is not possible. Dancers have more determination than most people I know. No matter what knocks them town or how many times it takes to get a turn, the keep on keeping on.
7. Time Management
Endless rehearsals and classes are only part of a dancer's life. Many young dancers much balance the challenges of school and even having a job with all the obligations that come with dancing. Some would describe it as overwhelming and others as organized chaos, but either way it is worth it. Too many students become adults without proper time management skills, and it will bite them in the rear end.
8. Commitment
Even if you are dancing by yourself, you influence other elements of the show. Once a choreographer even just things about the dance they are about to put together, you are in it. You cannot just stop dance right before a show. When you sign up to dance you are committing to the long hours and strenuous activity. You cannot just quit that without impacting the other dancers in a negative way. You also have to commit your heart and soul to a dance move to ever execute it properly. There is no way you can perfect something by giving it only part of what you have in you.
9. Friendship
With the amount of time you end up spending with other dancers, you only have two options, love them or hate them. It is a hell of a lot easier to love them to death. The friendships you build through countless hours in the studio with them is incomparable to any other relationship you will have in life. You grow up with the other people you dance with and go through numerous ups and downs together.
10. Self-Confidence
Dancing on a stage in front of endless people in barely any clothing is nothing but intimidating. Dancers spend hours upon hours in front of mirrors with their reflections staring back at them. This is not an easy thing to do. Dancers must understand what they are doing and be confident in themselves. That is a key part of being a great dancer.
11. Goals
From the very beginning, dancers learn that it is impossible to just perfect a triple pirouette overnight. You accomplish big things by getting there one step at a time. The key is to set reasonable goals and then meet them. If a dancer does not learn how to set attainable goals, they will only be in for a world of disappointment.
12. Teamwork
Unless you are dancing a solo, you must at the very least be aware of the other dancers near you on the stage. Not only do you want to avoid injury, but many times you much learn to mimic other people's movements to become in sync. Dance is more than just getting along with other people, it is working as one unit when you are out there on the stage.
13. Hard work
Hard work is blood, sweat, and tears. This is especially true for dancers. Our feet do not get all messed up from just prancing around here and there. In the middle of a show, there is no stopping. Muscles with ache, blisters will pop, but a dancer stops at nothing. You cannot find many people with the determination that dancers get from just wanting to dance their hearts out.
14. Accept Defeat
Sometimes your body simply doesn't want to cooperate. One day you might perfect endless turns, but the next day, you are lucky to do two. Ever dancer is built differently and a lot can be said for hard work and determination, but in the end, some things aren't meant to be. Each dancer has different strengths and weaknesses and it is essential to know what you cannot do. It is not going to get you anywhere to hurt yourself over trying to do something you are not meant to do.
15. Stress relief
Taking the time to dance is great for your health. Diving into all the stuff that runs through your head every day and letting it out is so important. Dance allows people to get out all that build up in a healthy and productive way. Dancers have one of the best outlets for stress relief, and it is amazing what dancing out your emotion can do for you.
