Dear dancers, I am so proud of you for working hard and never giving up on your dreams. I hope you are so proud of yourselves. To the parents, I hope you are proud of your kids as well. Let me remind you that trophies and medals do not define your tiny dancer. It’s how they have grown throughout the process, their commitment and their work ethic. Please support them and show them how proud you are regardless of the result!
HARDWORK
During the process of competitions, dancers learn that hard work will be very demanding to get to where you want to be in ballet. Sometimes dancers nowadays don’t take classes seriously or slack off but what competitions teach us is that we need to work hard to achieve our goals. Winning an award does not happen overnight! It takes blood, sweat and tears!
COMMITMENT
During the rehearsal period, we are told not to miss any class so that we can work on our dances more. Sometimes it’s tiring to come home from school and then dance the whole evening but you signed up for this. You wanted to compete so make it work or don’t join at all!
MEETING NEW FRIENDS
We meet new friends each time we compete. Waiting backstage makes everyone anxious but being with a friend or meeting a new friend backstage is the best feeling in the world. Dancers relate to each other because they know what happens and the best feeling in the world is meeting new people who understand your situation as a dancer. Visit https://indyballroom.com/nurturing-dancers-understanding-parental-influence-in-ballet-success/ to read about Nurturing Dancers: Understanding Parental Influence in Ballet Success.
INSPIRATION
Sometimes we focus too much on beating the most amazing dancer in our category but what’s important is that you’re inspired to be as good as her. We need to stop fighting for the award and make sure that when we see a beautiful dancer, we will aspire to be like them. We will work hard to be as good as her or even better. When dancers think that they have to beat the best dancer, it is disappointing. In this art form, we should be supporting each other, not tearing us apart.
NEW GOALS
You see, you learn, you aspire. Make new goals. If at the last competition, you fell while doing a pirouette then you should get back in the studio and perfect that. Set new goals for the next competition. Make yourself a better dancer. Don’t sit down and sob and blame everyone for not winning or not performing well. Work hard to be the best you!
NEVER GIVE UP
I’ve seen dancers who lose at competitions give up and quit just because they didn’t get any awards. They don’t see their growth as a dancer during the process. Sometimes we focus too much on the awards that we forget about how much we’ve grown throughout the process and how much we’ve learned during the competition itself. If dancing is something you truly love, you will not quit just because of hardships or because you are disappointed. You will continue working hard because dancing is something that makes you happy and it is something so special to you. NEVER GIVE UP BECAUSE YOU ARE DISAPPOINTED!
Most of the time, after a recital parents decide to take a short break from dance. But, that is the WRONG choice! Your tiny ballerina will not progress if after a recital/competition/showcase you take a break from dance. Whether it is just a day or a week, you still shouldn’t do it!!
- When you take a break from dance, the excitement your child has from the recital goes away. Your child will be very happy after performing and you destroy the momentum when you take a break after that.
- My teacher always told me “EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE COMING TO CLASS, YOU HAVE TO BE THERE.” Your technique gets lost when you take a break. Once you miss a class, you are back to trying to get your body back into shape.
- The girl who is in class will be better than you. In each class, you learn something new. Now if you rest for a bit, your body loses everything. Remember, in dance, everything is about MUSCLE MEMORY!
- You don’t improve! Even if you stretch at home, your teacher will not be around to correct you.
- You won’t be a good dancer by sitting at home.
Yes, we all feel like we need a break sometimes but if your ballerina is just starting and she is very very young, you have to be the ones to push them to get to class. They are growing, so their body changes every day. I know sometimes it isn’t the kids who don’t want to come to class, it’s the parents who are tired from bringing them to class. Let’s support our children to be better dancers by bringing them to class when they need to!! Besides, your school designates holidays anyway so that’s the only time you rest.
