I’ve danced ever since I can remember. Even before I was put in my first dance class at the young age of four, I remember constantly dancing around the house to “The Lion King” soundtrack or music my parents listened to, particularly Bon Jovi and Van Halen. For whatever reason, ever since I was four years old and had to pick whether to take tap, gymnastics, jazz, or ballet, I was drawn immediately to ballet. Maybe at that point it was just the allure of wearing a pink tutu and pointe shoes someday, but as soon as I took my first ballet class, I knew this was something I was going to be passionate about for the rest of my life. While a lot of my other friends went in a different route by joining competition dance squads, taking hip hop, jazz, and modern, I chose instead to stand at a barre for an hour and a half every night, trying incessantly to get my hip down that extra quarter of an inch or find the space in between every vertebrae in my back. While I did take other types of dance classes, particularly during summer intensive programs, my main focus was always ballet. Part of me wishes I explored types of dance other than ballet a little bit more when I was younger – I have so much respect for everyone who can drop it low in a hip hop routine because I most certainly cannot – but spending years extensively training in classical ballet truly did shape me into who I am today. Here are a few lessons I learned from those grueling, yet fun and rewarding, years spent learning all I could about this incredible art form:
Doing one thing right isn’t failure, it’s success.
It took me a while to learn this. I used to think that if I had a bad balance or turning or jumping day my whole class was shot. But after a while, I came to realize that even if I figured out how to lift my leg from underneath a little bit more than the day before, had one single good turn, then the class was worthwhile. This lesson can be applied to essentially every college class I’ve ever taken; just because I get a C in a class and didn’t understand the majority of what the professor was talking about, as long as I walk away with some bit of gained knowledge, it wasn’t a waste of my time.
There are a lot of different ways to be creative.
Some people think that ballet isn’t creative because ballerinas strive to look just like other ballerinas, but I don’t think that’s the case at all. Even though ballet follows the same techniques and principles anywhere you go, that definitely does not mean that each ballerina does not bring something unique and creative to each and every performance, class, and even every exercise. Ballet is an extremely creative outlet, and I think that there are hundreds of other ways to be creative, unconventional or not.
A strong work ethic.
This one’s pretty self-explanatory. I learned from a very young age that I was not going to move forward if I did not put my best work into every class. I can now apply this idea into work, school, relationships, and basically anything else.
Patience, dedication, and discipline.
Falling 100 times attempting an attitude turn doesn’t mean that you won’t succeed on your 101st time. You just have to be patient enough with yourself to get to that 101st time. Success in this art form also requires dedication to improve and the discipline to get through a fifteen minute adagio combination. Patience, dedication, and discipline are all important lessons that can be applied to everyday life.
Perfection is not attainable.
I think it took me almost 20 years of dancing to get this through my head, but it’s such an important lesson to learn. No matter how much you beat yourself up about anything, you will never be “perfect.” Striving for perfection should stop and should be replaced with the mentality that you are going to do the best you possibly can.
Passion is important in everything that you do.
As soon as I realized I had such a strong passion for ballet and dance in general, going to class and struggling through the pain and frustration made it all worth the while. Passion should be something that you have in every aspect of your life; being passionate about your major or your job will make it a lot easier to get through the difficult aspects of them.
Being timid cannot get in the way of your success.
If you don’t understand the exercise or rely too much on watching other people when dancing in the center, push your way to the front! If you consistently hit single turns out of fear that you will fall on your face the minute you try a double, you will never improve. Letting shyness get in the way is not an option in dance, nor should it be an option in any other aspect of life.
It’s one of the best methods I’ve found yet for stress relief.
Maybe after everything I’ve already said about ballet, this makes me sound a little bit crazy, but it truly is the most effective way to relieve stress that I have found for myself. Even though I’m not dancing six times a week like I did growing up, ballet is always going to be an outlet for me get out all the tension I’ve been bottling up. Maybe it’s because balancing in arabesque or executing a flawless attitude turn allows for absolutely no other intruding thoughts. Maybe it’s because there’s nothing more freeing than doing a grande allegro across the floor. Maybe it’s simply because it’s a form of expression that is only attainable in the studio or on the stage. Maybe it’s the calming, classical music. Maybe it’s the feeling you get after doing a perfect pique mange. I think it’s a combination of all of those things. Whatever the reason, it’s unimaginably therapeutic and for that reason, if none of the others, I know I will be involved in ballet in one way or another for the rest of my life.
