1. You can’t manage to do a messy bun, but wish the mesh sock bun was made sooner.
Your bun is ALWAYS neat. See that fly away? Nope. It’s not a thing. I would personally like to thank the person who came up with the idea for a mesh sock bun. That would have been the biggest life saver during competition season.
2. Go grocery shopping? I thought you meant let me practice all my dance steps.
Besides the floor at dance class, there really isn't a better floor to practice on than the grocery store floor. Want to perfect a double, maybe even a triple pirouette? Practice while Mom is standing at the deli or meat counter. Want to practice some tap steps? Standing in line during check out is the prime time for that.
3. Glitter is a color.
If it doesn’t have glitter, you add it. If it has glitter, you buy it just because. If it has rhinestones, that’s a plus. Glitter on your shirt, pants, shoes, headbands, purses..you name it, it had glitter and maybe some rhinestones. Glitter hairspray and makeup were the best. Glitter is all the colors. Sparkle on!
4. You spent more time with your dance friends than your friends that didn’t dance.
Between hours spent at the dance studio every week and going to competitions and the weeklong rehearsal before recital, there’s a good chance you saw your friends from dance more than your friends from school. Bonus points if your friends from school joined your dance studio to be with you more.
6. You had a drawer or part of your closet dedicated to dance-wear.
Leotards, skirts, shorts, tights…you name it, it’s there. Once you aged up and had to get sports bras, those were added. Once you had to get a bra with a clear back, that was added. Dance costumes from your first recital until present, those are there too.
5. Panty hose? You mean the dance tights that have been sitting in my drawer?
Let’s be honest, panty hose run so easily, but dance tights? I’ve worn the same pair and washed them more times than I can count and there isn’t a single run in them! Plus, they keep your legs a lot warmer in the winter.
6. Your dance costumes doubled as Halloween costumes.
Dance costumes are expensive. Sure you have the ones that you threw together with a t-shirt and pants that you already owned, but then there were those costumes that cost $50+. Those were the best Halloween costumes some years.
7. There was a time of confusion on what was appropriate make up for everyday use.
Rosey pink cheeks, bright colored lips, fake eyelashes and eyeshadow you can see from a mile away aren’t exactly the best choices to wear to school. The plus side is, you knew how to apply make up before you had a cell phone. You could master winged eyeliner in seconds and could reapply lipstick during a quick change.
8. Long term memory? I have that.
When a song comes on in the car or at a party, your immediate thought is “I did a dance to that song…” The song was probably your favorite tap dance from 2005, or your first pointe dance in 2008. Regardless, the dance comes right back to you and it’s as if you’ve been practicing it every day. Ask me what I did yesterday though? I probably couldn’t tell you.
9. Once recital time was over and national competitions were over, there was a sigh of relief.
You worked so hard from September until June or July and now it’s over. Your feet hurt, you don’t know the last time you had a weekend to do nothing, but it was all worth it. The moment you get home and take off your shoes and wash off your make up, you feel like a new person.
10. Even though your dance days may be behind you, they will always be your favorite memories
While my pointe shoes are hung up, and my dance bag is still packed in my closet, I will never forget my dance days. Leaving dance behind and leaving my studio to go to college was one of the hardest things to do. There are days that I regret it. There were days that I wondered if I should quit dancing. At the end of the day, I’m happy I stayed a dance kid for 16 years. I miss the girls I used to see sometimes multiple times a week. I miss having to remember 4 or more dances to show off at the recitals.
One day, I hope that I will be in the position my mother was for 16 years. Driving my daughter to dance class, sitting and waiting for her class to be over. Driving her home, only to do it again a few days or a week later. I hope that I will be helping her backstage, helping her with her costumes and teaching her how to put on makeup. I hope that I will be sitting, watching her dance with a smile on my face, as my mom had done with me.
“It takes an athlete to dance, but an artist to be a dancer.” ~Shanna Lafleur
