When you think dance you might think buns, tutus, twinkling toes, and rhinestones. When I think dance I think sweat, soar muscles, dedication and eight counts paired with numerous different positions sewn together to formulate this perfect work of art. Behind every choreographer's beautiful work, are dancers that have trained and worked through the most difficult hours in a studio. It's in these studio moments that our character was reshaped and transformed... not just our technique and pointed toes.

I was a competitive dancer for three of the fifteen years I danced and it formed a lot of my work ethic among other things. Between taking ballet, jazz, tap, modern, hip hop, pointe, and so on, I would adopt a great deal of lessons that I find to be true for every day life.

For those of us who will always think of the studio as their second home, this is for you:

Practice Makes Progress.

There is no such thing as practice makes perfect, with anything in life. You can be in the studio going over that turn or that jump for hours and it still won't look perfect, but you will have made significant progress and that is something worth being proud of. I know right now with school, every class, every lecture, every assignment may not be easy and sometimes grades will slip. But practicing by studying and tutoring will get you that progression to better knowledge.

No Pain, No Gain.

You have to suffer through the not-so-fun stuff in order to reap the reward you are working towards. You want your arabesque to look flawless? You have to hold that leg up there longer! You want your splits to be effortless? You gotta stretch! You want that bikini-bod? You have to hit the gym more than once a week. You want a better GPA? You have to be studying night and day. Get through the pain to see your gains.

Fake it 'til you make it.

This is particularly true if you have a solo. The first time I ever got on stage alone at a competition, I was about ten seconds into my dance and forgot every single thing I did in the last months leading up to that moment. Instead of freezing before the judges, my team, and my family, I whipped out moves I never knew I was capable of executing! Do you think anyone could tell? Absolutely not! I mean, my dance teacher clearly knew there was something amiss but I was the only one up there. Who was I to be compared to? It was a long three minutes, but I made it through. So the next time you're in front of you boss giving that big presentation and lost what your next point was... fake it 'til you make it! Gloss over it and maybe tack your point on to the end when it comes back to mind. Improvisation is key.

Smile Through it.

Sometimes we do exceedingly and abundantly well, and other times we battement kick so high we fall right on our behinds! (Yes, I am speaking from experience) You bet it hurt like nothing else, but as far as a dancer's expression goes, those pearly whites still have to be out for everyone to see. You can fall, mess up, miss a count, but you still need to smile through it. When others see a look of dread or panic, they will pick up on it before you can take back what you did. Everyday we go through things that well, really suck! Like coming home from a 12 hour shift to see that cat scratched up the new couch (always fun). But you can decide to let it make you miserable or you can decide to grin and bear it. The situation is not so much as what happened to you but how you decided to deal with it.

Performing Under Pressure.

The first couple times you are on stage before tens or hundreds of people, it can be equally terrifying and thrilling. My first time I remember being on stage I was three, in a baby-pink, velvet leotard with pieces of tulle strung off the waist, topped off with tiny pink roses in my bun. Once on stage it was too dark to see the adults in the audience and I thought, "WOW! This is GREAT!" As you get older and start to realize that there actually is a sea of people out there in that vast darkness, the pressure sets in some more. You can either let it fuel your fire and power your adrenaline to really execute your dance, or you can let it cripple you into a meek and shy performance. One thing that comes to mind where I have used this tactic is with last-minute essays in high school. I had the decision to let the stress overwhelm me or use that pressure to enable me to produce a great work of writing.

Leaps and Bounds.

Jette. Plie. Jette. Plie. Roll roll roll, now LIFT!

There are levels to dance choreography: it is what exemplifies emotion and volume to a piece. Nothing compares to the feeling of being lifted up off your feet by a group of fellow dancers, floating through the air. Those moments come hand-in-hand with the thigh-burning lunges and holding positions for long periods of time. Something my other half and I always say to each other is "peaks and valleys". Whether it be in your relationship, friendship, or life in general, sometimes you feel like you are on top of the world and can conquer anything in your path. But those times would not be as appreciated as they are if we didn't fall on hard times too. You're going to fight, you're going to go through difficult trials, there's no question about it. Getting through hardship makes us appreciate the good times.

Find Joy in the Studio.

Between one of our transitions from barre to going across the floor, my teammates and I were talking about the feelings we had when we were onstage and how those moments made all of the hours of practice worth it. My dance teacher just happened to be listening in to our conversation and said, "Ladies... I am glad you find your joy in competition, but you should really be finding your happiness in the everyday practice and what we do in the studio as well." Silence fell over us as we realized that we took for granted the ability to get up and do this after school day after day. Always thinking that practice was getting in the way of homework, family time, or Friday night football games with friends at the high school behind our studio. That moment I realized that waiting around for happiness will never lead you to a life that is truly a happy one. We have to learn to have fun and be cheerful in even the most mundane moments. To make those times happy and make the conscious choice to enjoy each and every moment. To find joy in the studio.

At three my mom put me in dance classes because I was so active and she wanted me to have an outlet for my energy. She still reminds me that fifteen years later she never thought it would have been such a tremendous part of my life. I give so much credit to her, the other dance moms, my fellow teammates, and of course my dance teachers that all came together to instill the qualities we dancers hold dearly. These things have helped me deal with everyday life and for that I am so thankful.

As the saying goes; once a dancer, always a dancer.