December 2, 2009
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I use to be a dancer
“I use to be a dancer.”
Ouch. I hate the way that sounds, but its true.
I danced for 14 years at the same dance studio. I loved every minute of it. The costumes, the performances, the classes, the spotlight. I studied predominately, jazz, tap, ballet/pointe and hip-hop. Dancing is where my love for performing began. After 14 years of dancing you would think I’d have been ready for So You Think You Can Dance…sadly, I’m not.
Around year 10, or maybe earlier, my grandmother started trying to get me to change dance studios. She could see that I wasn’t progressing. I didn’t want to. I was comfortable, and I was one of THE top dancers at the studio, why change? I got too comfortable. So comfortable that I had peeked where I was, and I wasn’t learning anything. On the instances I found myself outside of the comfort of my home studio I realized that I was no where near at the skill level of someone who had danced 14 years.
When I went to outside auditions for college I bombed. And there is where my dance career sort of died. I was mad. Mad at myself for not being all the dancer I could be, and getting so comfortable. Mad at my studio for continuing to take my money but not continuing to teach me. I can barely watch videos from the performances in my later years, to be frank, I looked horrible. There really was nobody to blame but myself. I made my choice, and now I live with it.
In the end, I am sure this all contributed to a greater purpose. It was my background in dancing that got me into acting, which I ended up studying in college, and enjoy and am semisuccessful at today. On occasion I still get to dance in the theater productions I’m in, which makes me happy
.No regrets.
Moral of the story: Don’t get complacent. It might be comfortable and fun being at the top of one level, but you’ve got to break through, you’ve got to get uncomfortable to continue to learn and achieve.
