In case you don’t know this about me, I am a ballet person. I say ballet person because I have more than one title, and person just sums it up as a whole. Dance in general has been important to me since a very young age, and I consider it one of the things that formed the person I am today.
As an “active” five year old, my mom decided to enroll me in ballet after taking me to a spring performance, and me not moving for the whole thing. I don’t think she had ever seen me sit so still before. I loved it immediately. Even as a kindergartener, I could probably have spent all my time twirling around and showing everyone what I have learned. I even remember spending time at my grandparents’ house and putting on a show to the tunes of the end credits to every movie we watched together.
As an adult, I have come to realize that dance, really ballet specifically, has taught me more than how to dance, though. When I was 22 years old I returned to the studio, after a short hiatus. The difference, now, was that I now get to be the teacher. It really is the most amazing thing, and now I get to teach students some of the lessons that I learned through my training…things that have nothing to do with the beat of the music or how many pirouettes a dancer can do.
You have to learn to work alongside others before you can be the star of the show. I don’t think there ever was a ballet dancer who dreamed of growing up to be in the corp de ballet. No! A dancer trains to be the best. They want to be the prima ballerina. How many dancers go straight from classes to soloist, though. I can’t think of a single one (I mean, correct me if I am wrong, though). The hierarchy of the ballet world just does not work like that. It is very much a “work up from the bottom” system. You have to do your work to make it to the top. Isn’t life a lot like that, too? Sure some people get lucky and they get to be a CEO right out of college, but that is normally not the case. This was a wonderful lesson to have learned growing up. Being in ballet taught me how to be a part of the group and work well with others. It taught me that even though you might feel lost in the crowd or that your part did not matter, you have the power to throw everything off and take everyone with you. Only when you can work well with others, can you truly lead the charge well.
No-one has never not fallen — The show must go on. One of the conversations that I have most frequently with my students goes like this:
“Miss Anna, I can’t!”
“Why? What are you afraid of?”
“I don’t want to fall. What do I do, then? Everyone might laugh at me.”
“Well, honey, you just get back up and learn from what you did.”
Everyone falls. Everyone learns new lessons, and no-one does something perfect the first time. If we did, then we would all be the best at everything that we do, and there would be no lessons to learn or goals to achieve. When we take a spill, whether that is physically falling on the floor or hitting a setback in life, the show must go on. We must get up, brush the dirt off and keep moving. No-one is perfect.
Some people are born with “it” and some people have to work hard for it, but dedication pays off. Everyone remembers that girl who always stood in the front of the studio and was just enough better than you for it to be annoying, right? As I’m typing this, I can picture that girl from when I was young in my head. In my teenager mind, she had it. Everything that she did was perfect…oh, you want a triple pirouette, sure! Perfect split without the stretching. The thing is, people are like that a dime a dozen. Really, you are probably that person for someone else, you just don’t realize. What I’m trying to say, here, is that just because something does not come easily, does not mean that you shouldn’t do it. Hard work leads to great things. It not only can lead to success, but leads to appreciation and a better work ethic. Having to work hard for something teaches you that when something doesn’t come easily, you don’t give up and you continue to pursue the goal. An example of this is how statistically speaking, people with a ballet background who pursue a college diploma are more likely to graduate. Dancers are taught to keep at a challenge even when it is just that – a challenge.
There are countless lessons that I learned growing up at the ballet barre. The majority of my time as an adolesent (especially the teen years) were spent in the studio. It put me around people that were different than me and taught me how to work with them. I was with people who went to different schools, had different beliefs and whose family dynamics were very different than me. It gave me a jump start on learning social lessons that I would not have learned otherwise, making me stronger in the long run. So, ballet is a beautiful art, and learning to dance can be important in the way of having a career on the stage, but it is so much more than that.
Hot Mess Blonde 