The month of May is dedicated to Dancer's professional and personal journey. Talks to different dancers that found their passion outside dance. Some changed to a completely different career, others carried dance into their new path. I hope that these conversations help bring some light in this topic. Being a dancer, as in any career that is so physically demanding and requires a lot of sacrifice, when the time comes for the final call, this transition can be very challenging.
A dancer’s career has an expiration date. Sometimes this date comes unexpectedly. An injury, for example. Or comes because of a change of heart. But even with a long and successful career, the day will come when It’s time to put away the dance shoes.
The career of an athlete starts very early. The training in dance, usually starts in childhood and a professional career doesn't start until the dancer is about 19 yrs old (give or take).
By the time the dancer is ready to get hired by a Ballet Company, he/she already has a “long life” being a dancer. However, for the dancer’s mind, the career only starts when she/he gets in a Ballet Company (and gets $).
Getting hired by a professional ballet company is the dream. When this doesn’t happen for various reasons, not only her/his dream and world is shattered but also their confidence and self esteem.
Similar thing happens when a dancer retires. Especially after a forced retirement like an injury preventing further dancing. The feeling of emptiness and loss of identity is real.
Who am I if I'm not a dancer?
Dancers are trained to reach for perfection. Because perfection is unattainable, this is a continuous work. A quest.
Dancers not only improve their physical abilities to do tricks: Multiple turns, intricate steps, incredible extension of the legs (you know, where the leg goes to infinity and beyond), amazing height in jumps… you got the idea, but they also get intensive training in “following directions”. They have to be experts on this! The teacher/director tells them: Hold the position, align your shoulders with your hips and knees, move softly, jump higher, more power, less smile, lift this, drop that, stop with this, work harder, etc, etc, etc. so, when the time comes when they need to be the director of their life, it can get complicated
I hear dancers say this all the time: “I only feel free when I’m dancing”. But there is no freedom when you are taking orders.This feeling only comes when you dance your dance. The stage provides a thrill, excitement, anticipation, expectation. These things provoke so many feelings. It can be addicting. Amazing sensation!!! Is it freedom?
Now, when you dance using the tools you work so hard to understand and apply, you are able to execute the movements in your head, translate the feelings through the movements effortlessly. That’s freedom! On stage or off stage.
This takes not only hard work but talent. Frustration is a well known companion. It’s easy not wanting to blame something or someone when something doesn’t go according to plan...the studio floor, the teacher, the shoes, the parents. But oftentimes themselves.
Imagine this:
A child, before any training... dancing around. In the living room, in the park…feeling the wind, playing with the flowers, skipping on the sidewalk. Free of any judgement or any preconcept as to what any movement is supposed to look like (as in a dance technique). Just a pure expression of her/himself. Music or no music…It’s priceless. This is the picture of freedom.
Then, this child starts to take dance lessons. After a while, this “look” of freedom disappears. Their own interpretation of dance is replaced by what it is supposed to look like, through imitation, and then is replaced by what the movements are supposed to feel like (in terms of muscle work). If the student is lucky, she/he gets a teacher that understands the value of maintaining one's true identity throughout the ballet training. So the dancer is clear on her/his value and wholeness. The dance is part of it, and perhaps occupies a big space. But when the time comes that dance training/career is no longer happening, that space can be filled easily with all the beauty that life can offer. Dancing the songs of the heart.
Join me on Sundays, when I talk to incredible former dancers. Their choices and beliefs.
Sunday Conversations - Live Instagram @daielma
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