It's a phrase that every dancer has said at some point in his or her career.
Many chalk it up as an excuse dancers use to get out of something they don't want to do. In reality, dancers are dedicated, passionate creatures. We rarely willingly let anything keep us from going to class, and we sacrifice many experiences for our art. I've said no to a lot of things so I could say yes to dance. These are a few things I missed out on so I could continue to take class and grow as a dancer.
Marching Band
My sophomore year of high school, a few of my good friends joined the band. They wanted me to join, and so did I, but I knew I had to make a choice. Do I join band and let my dance career suffer, or do I continue to dance and miss out on time with my friends? So I stuck with dance and I even took and taught more classes. It was difficult to see my friends having fun without me, but I know I made the right choice. I knew that my friends loved me regardless, and we still made many memories over our four years together that I will treasure forever.
AP Classes
"What AP classes are you taking?" was an FAQ at my high school, which was adamant about preparing us for college since freshman orientation. While most of my friends did, I never took one AP class because I knew how intense they were, and I knew I wouldn't be able to dedicate the time to doing the homework and studying for the exams because I had so many dance classes that I wanted to focus on. I wasn't willing to invest the time, money, and energy into something that I knew I couldn't fully invest myself in. Like with band, I had to make a choice between potential college credits and dance. It would be nice to have some extra credits in my pocket, but I know I made the right choice by preparing my instrument for collegiate-level dancing.
Money
Fortunately, when I was a demonstrator and then a junior teacher at Out of His Mind, I was paid in vouchers to use within the studio. I would often fill in for other junior teachers when they called in sick, so I earned a good bit of money, which I used for the down payment on my costumes. However, my parents were left to pay for the balance of my costumes in addition to my classes, summer classes, leotards, tights, shoes and so much more. I would often feel guilty for making my them spend so much on me when they could be spending it on themselves or my brother. A while ago I asked my mom how she and Dad felt about spending so much money on my dance classes. She said, "I guess you could say we felt bad that we couldn't let you do some other things you wanted because we were spending the money on dance, and also the time. We felt bad you didn't have time to do other things because all of your time was going into dance, but we knew that was okay because that is what made you happiest." I always believed that every cent spent on my dance education was worth it, but it meant the world to me to know that Mom and Dad thought so too.
As you can see, my life wouldn't be the same if I had made different choices, but I'm glad I chose dance every time. These are only a few of the many sacrifices I made, but the rewards I received from dance has made every sacrifice worth it. I strengthened my work ethic, learned incredible self-discipline, and improved my memory and my listening skills to name a handful of what I earned from dance. I plan on elaborating on this in one of my future articles.
Never apologize for following your heart, dear reader. You'll have to say no to a lot of things so you can say yes to your goals and dreams. I hope all of your choices coincide with who you want to be.