I spent most of my life as a dancer. My afternoons, evenings and weekends were filled with pliés, pirouettes, and the words, "Let's run it one more time." All those hours logged in the studio taught me a lot more than just how to dance, though. Dance taught me valuable skills that will stick with me for the rest of my life.
1. Strength
Dance taught me how to push myself further than I thought I could go, or wanted to go. Dancers may look pretty and delicate when we're up on the stage, but under those tutus is pure strength. Dancers are not only required to be strong physically, but also mentally. We're constantly bombarded with criticism, competition and pressure. Dance taught me not to let these things overwhelm and upset me, but to use them to motivate me.
2. Poise
Dance taught me how to stand tall and be graceful not only literally, but also metaphorically. I learned to rise above the pettiness that the dance world is infamous for, and to take the high road even when it seemed like the low road. It taught me to be confident in myself, but to always respect others.
3. Leadership
I was fortunate enough to have had a lot of great leaders in dance. They not only showed me what a good leader looks like, but taught me how to be one. Dance gave me the opportunity to be a mentor to others and to learn what it's like to have people counting on me.
4. Teamwork
Dance taught me that a lot of times working together gets you further than being independent. Most people don't think of dance as a team sport, but it's just as much of one as football or basketball. Dance involves hours and hours of working together to reach the end goal: it involves a game plan, compromise and a deep understanding of who you're working with.
5. Friendship
Dance taught me the value of true friends. My dance friends were always some of my best friends, and they still are. I learned that at the end of the day it didn't really matter who could leap the highest or who was the most flexible—I learned that what mattered most was that I had friends who supported me and truly cared about me.
I took dance classes so that I could learn how to dance. I wanted to learn new moves and then perfect them. I didn't go in expecting to learn all of these other things, but they are what have stuck with me and have led me to be who I am today.
