Dancing is starting to get a lot of love in the news lately. Magazines who used to only feature basic sports athletes have now recognized dancers as true athletes. I'm sure some of you are shaking your head saying "No they are just in the arts." This is the part where I humbly prove you wrong.
1. Flexibility. Most dancers start out at an extremely young age. If you want to achieve a certain flexibility at a very fast pace, it is easier to do when you're young. Your bones and muscles aren't fully developed yet, you haven't built them up. So if you start at the age of 5, or even 7, doing cartwheels, back bends, hand stands and your splits, it's easy and natural. If you keep this up, you'll be able to do these things as you get older. This is not to say that if you start dancing at 14 or 18 that you won't be able to kick the top of your head when your head when you do a ring jump, it will just take you longer to get there than you would like.
2. Performance. This is the most important part of dancing: it doesn't matter if you got your split leap perfect or if the whole group dropped into a ground roll on the same exact count, if you don't perform. Yes, lines are great, and your turn out during that tilt is everything, but if you can't bring the dance piece to life with pure, raw emotion and energy, there is absolutely not a single reason why you should be on the stage. No one pays ungodly amounts of money just to watch the Rockettes just go through the motions.
3. Your Body. If a dancer is rehearsing in a studio all day, a 150 lb. dancer can burn 405 calories in that one day. That might not seem like a lot to you, but when you're rehearsing multiple times a week, it adds up quick. But dancers are also working out every time they rep a phrase. Every turn, every leap, every extension you are squeezing your muscles.
4. Just like any other athlete, be prepared to get screamed at. All. Day. Long. You have to push yourself harder and further than you did in the last run, you can always make something better, whether it is your facings, your turn out, you turned half a count late in the second sixteen. You can ALWAYS get better, always.
5. Yes, long days are hard, yes, getting yelled at sucks, yes, your feet are ugly and beaten up and yes, your body hurts like crazy. And when I wake up on Saturday mornings, I cry a little because I know how bad I'll hurt, but then I get really excited, because I know I get to see my chosen family and I get to be a part of something greater, I get to release all of my frustrations, let loose and live a little more. I get to be apart of something I'm proud of. I'll take all of the ugly feet, sore muscles and knee injuries just to have the days with the people I love.
