I was diagnosed with anxiety in 4th grade but, honestly, I know I experienced it before then. All my life I have tried to control situations and be very prepared so last-minute situations wouldn’t rattle me. It was hard for me to be spontaneous, and I worried about not living up to other people's expectations.
Read MoreMental health in dance is a phrase I never heard growing up. I grew up in a time where there was a huge stigma on mental health. If you needed counseling or help, there was “something wrong with you”. So, every time I was struggling, I pushed it down. I could build a mountain with all the struggle stones I’ve shoved deep down inside.
Read MoreIt’s that time of the year when many studios are starting or well into their preparations for competition and performance season. Especially with the major setbacks the pandemic has put us in when it comes to being on stage, it makes it all the more exciting to be back on stage and dancing again. However, with the pandemic comes another crisis many dancers have overlooked.
Read MoreI have two terms for you: Refilling the creative well and excavating creativity. Two concepts in the ever-frustrating realm of inspiration, motivation, and creativity…
Read MoreAs a part of my recovery process, I continuously turned to dance improvisation, which has always been movement I find incredibly healing. Many times, my body has felt weak, dirty, used, and not my own. The only thing I have found to mend this damage is the power of proving these feelings wrong. Feeling the strength and control I have over my frame during times when I feel that this body is not my own. When I am able to hold myself in a mind-space of healing and patience, dance is able to release and teach myself what an infinite amount of words simply cannot.
Read MoreMany dancers face injuries at some point in their training or careers, and they are never easy to deal with.
Although an injury can be frustrating in the moment, it can be helpful to use the downtime to reflect as a dancer, and learn a few things along the way.
Read MoreAt the end of this tunnel, when the arts are able to return in full force, and we are able to gather together in packed theatres, travel for intensives, dance packed together with other sweaty, passionate beings in a hotel ballroom for the latest convention in town, and laugh, cry, dance, and sing, together once again… we will be here for you.
Read MoreBallet class expanded from watching someone perform a proper plie and trying to mirror it, to understanding the muscles involved, the physics, the balance and strength. It built depth to seemingly simple movements, transforming them from mere exercises to art. When a dancer becomes an artist, they learn to not only use the vocabulary that has been ingrained in their mind for years, but also use the emotions, experience, and grace they have developed from life. The process of building technique in any dance form requires a methodical logic, but without the creativity and intuition of an artist, dance becomes just a form of exercise.
Read MoreAs dancers, we encounter many different dancing environments. Some are adaptable and favored and others are not. In these unfavored environments, it can be easy to fall into a rut and create mental challenges that can slow your progress. Each person has their own reasoning as to why they are preventing themselves from growing. Our environments and the people we surround ourselves with play a part in this, but sometimes we are simply just overthinking. Dancers are infamous for adapting at a rapid rate and those changes come with high expectations. This change overload often requires dancers to uproot their entire lives to pursue our passion. This is what we sign up for, but sometimes our adjustment to these changes do not happen as rapidly as we like.
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