“ Well that’s the way life goes you get pushed down and you have to try to get out of that nightmare by yourself.” That's what my teacher portrays hard work as and she doesn’t understand that, that’s not what it’s about. When you’re with the same group of people for a long time you start to get attached and really close with each other, but sometimes it goes the opposite way and you completely fall apart. The latter is what happened to me and it got pretty bad. I come from a very competitive background and I played seven different sports before I settled on one thing, dance. With dance it’s a lot different from other sports or activities per say, everyone has to be perfect or it doesn't work. It doesn't matter if I’m dancing in a large group or I'm doing a solo, if I dont have the right timing the whole dance feels and looks off. The problem is when the people I’m dancing with don’t get along and my teacher …show more content…
doesn't care anymore everything goes in the trash. This was about three years ago and it was my third year of competing in the junior age category and my first year as a teen dancer, second best in my age group.
The year started off pretty well and we started auditions early and the competition dances were going great. In November I had broken my ankle and that set me back a lot in choreography, but that’s beside the point. When competition season started, which is usually around February, the first competition didn’t go so well in the junior category teen did pretty good, but that's not where the problem was the problem was the juniors. On the outside we looked like a good team, we’ve always had a good reputation in the competition world as the nicest studio. No one saw what was going on behind the scenes. The group of ten had split up into three different cliques, and there were two of us that bounced around between them, me being one. I’m not going to name names, but there were the ones on top, in the middle, and the ones that didn't say much. That’s the only way I can explain it and that’s the blunt
truth. When girl drama comes around most people steer the other way and try not to think about it, but it can get pretty bad. The more we got into the competition season the worse it got, people were talking behind other people's backs and we couldn't work together because all we could think about was how much we couldn't trust each other. I was the mediator between everyone, if anyone had a problem it went through me and to the other person. Whether one person wanted to correct another in a part in the dance or they just wanted them to understand that they didn’t hate them and they just want to get along. This is the one thing I hate, drama.
To make it even harder to focus, we could hear the music of another guard’s performance throughout warmup. I encouraged my team to stay focus on how we want to perform. As we prepared to perform, several girls began crying and hugging as if we were already done. I talked to each girl I passed and told them that it was time to focus and to show this crowd how good we are. That performance was the perfect ending to the season; it was everything we had worked for. However, we weren’t done yet; we still had to fold our floor, put away our flags, and get ready for the awards ceremony. On our way to put away our equipment, one of my girls started crying and apologizing for a mistake she had made, afraid that she compromised the show. I told her immediately that whatever score we made, we earned it as a team. I comforted her with my own struggles of perfectionism and feelings of inadequacy, but those feelings don’t necessarily reflect our
Many people say, "Do not judge a book by its cover," but the cover of this book drew me into a journey of reading. The line of the letters Silent Dancing is on top; just below that is a picture of a beautiful four-year old girl. Perhaps she lives with a wealthy family; the girl looks so cute and pretty in her dress. Like many other young girls who usually love toys, she is holding a rattlebox; however, she does not pay attention to the toy in her hands. The young girl appears sad because of wide opened eyes that seem interested of what is in front of her. The quiet lips that have no smile make her look shy and older than her time. Why does this young girl have a feature of sadness? This picture seems to suggest that after reading Silent Dancing I should have the proper answer to that question.
Ballet is an athletic art form that utilizes muscle control, flexibility, and physical strength. It requires extreme discipline from the dancers and takes an extreme amount of mental concentration. This discipline causes dancers to have success throughout life and specifically in academic studies. There are many ways that dance can affect the success of a person’s life; however, there are two in specific that make dancers generally more successful. To begin, ballet causes dancers to be self-motivated workers; dancers cannot rely on others to push them to be better, but must have the drive within themselves.
The typical idea of a dancer is that they are tall, slender, full of energy, and lucky because they dance with all of the “stars”. Much of this is true, however, what many people do not think of are the many hardships that a dancer goes through in order to achieve their high status in the dance world. It takes much hard work and determination along with good direction to become a dancer. However, nothing good comes without a price. Dancers often times have many pressures put on them which can lead to physical and emotional damages. These damages occur through the pressures from the media, parents, teammates, and the stereotype that society has placed on dancers.
My eldest sister was a professional cheerleader. My second eldest sister rode horses and speaks fluent Spanish. My third sister played three instruments, crocheted, drew, and cooked. Even my younger brother was in the choir and played cello. I was in the middle. I felt like I had no skills. I can’t cheer, nor can I ride horses or speak another language fluently. My cooking is sub-par, and my skills as a violinist were… underdeveloped. I would always be seated in the back row of the second violins, the lowest of the low. All theses reasons contributed to why I didn’t join the color guard for three years, even after being constantly pressured and supported by the instructor. I would tell them that my knee hurt too much, or that it was too much money, however, the reality was I was too self conscious, too scared of failure to even try.
I have been a dancer since the age of 3. My earliest memory of dance was when I was too terrified to go on stage during a recital and I refused to go on no matter how much they tried to push me. Up until the age of about 12, dance had been just a hobby or an extracurricular activity. In fact, I didn’t even enjoy going to dance. I didn’t have friends there and I wasn’t that good of a dancer. It wasn’t until I participated in Dance Bermuda’s summer dance intensive in collaboration with the American Ballet Theatre in 2012, that I realized that I had a passion for dance. At the program, I was exposed to other dancers that were my age and older and most of them were much more advanced than I. So to avoid being the worst dancer in the program, I took to YouTube and watched hours and hours of dance videos. I researched all the ways to improve my ballet technique. I can remember trying to practice my pirouettes in the kitchen and falling onto the table and knocking a whole bunch of things over. I was determined to be as good as the other girls in the program. By the end of the two weeks I was fired up, motivated, and ready to get back to class after the summer.
Although I am not a great dancer by any means, I learned through my years of involvement in dance that if you want something you should not let any hardships stop you. This message is what helps push me toward success in my educational
Death’s whisper traveled in my ear, wrapping around my mind, “I can take you away from this madness. Beyond this hell, that is life.” “Will it be more peaceful there?” I asked. “As serene as heaven above.” Possessive Depression responded. My heavy heart fluttered at the thought of serenity. No more painful days, or lonely, restless nights. No more of this living death. Anxiety murmured all my insecurities tempting me to make the decision, as every tick-tock from the clock he held, echoed in my brain, putting fear in me of things that will never happen. I thought about the invitation to eternal sleep, “I would finally be able to extract this smiling mask…” Thus, I decided to join the dance of death, done dealing with my dilemmas.
In the heart of Miami, Miami Dade College’s (MDC) dance majors put on a performance called The Art of Dance. Under the direction of Michelle Grant- Murray, guest choreographers challenged the students of MDC. The students were also able to exhibit their own work, as this was also their student choreography showcase. The evening consisted of diverse styles such as – African, contemporary, and world dance; unfortunately, I cannot say the all of the pieces impressed me.
Although, dance requires some natural skill it also requires dedication. Natural ability and talent will only get dancers so far. Dancers must work hard and persevere. Dancers give years of their lives plus their sweat, tears and sometimes blood to have the honor and pleasure of performing on stage. Dance takes dedication, commitment and passion from the dancer. The only one who can stop you from reaching your dance goals is you! Practice, persistence and determination pay off. Dancers that dedicate themselves countless hours every day, week, and month to become more confident and have more toned dedication and skill. So clearly, there is a question in people's minds about whether dance is a sport or an art. The dance community consists of many different factions and styles. You can dance at a club for fun, as a hobby, as a serious passion, or you can dance as a career. To be able to dance well, one needs to have flexibility, strength, stamina, endurance, and a love for what they do. I can see why people think that dance is not a sport. I know we make it look easy, but as many people don’t know, it’s really quite difficult. When you really take a look and see how many things football and dance have in common, you will see that dance truly is a sport. Dancers work just as hard as any football player in the United States. To conclude my thoughts my favorite quote in the world, “If dance were any
Finally Friday came. The tournament lasted for about three hours, peppered with constant complaints, arguments, and threatened fist fights. To my own disbelief, we lost -- by one point! For the rest of the night I rationalized our loss by creating stories of how they must have cheated, accented by remarks about the character blemishes of their mothers. I just kept saying that we were still the best and it didn't matter that we had lost. By the end of the night no one was speaking to me, not even my partner in the competition. I finally snuck off and went home. All the way, I could feel myself choking on ...
Ever since I was a small child, I have loved music. The strong, steady beats, the
I had my first dance recital on the day I turned four. Now I don’t remember anything from that day, but I believe that that day is when I learned I loved to perform. I’ve been taking dance lessons since then, and many things that I do now involve performing in some type of way.
However, I met Classidy in elementary school, and we were best friends. After coming into highschool, our relationship started to drift apart. Currently, we are all competing against each other for the solo in this year Spring Show. Who ever wins this solo gets the chance for a scholarship. Most of my dance teachers disagree with me competing against them because they don’t think that I need the scholarship money since my parents pay for my tuition in full. I want this to be the thing that grabs my parent attentions and makes them finally listen to me. I want them to actually participate in my life: see me at a performance, and do more than pay for things. This experience was very rough, but opened me up to something I didn’t know that I could do. I was able to channel something inside of me to become creative, and put emotions into the dance. Usually when I dance I tend to be very shy, but after this I am more confident in my dance moves even if I know that I am not executing the move correctly I still try. That is something that I can be proud of because I have always had problems with creating dance moves, and I always thought that I didn’t have that in me to do so. It was a wonderful experience to be opened up to. Also, we are trying to incorporate our ballet term through our dance moves even though we all have different genres of dance, which is what makes it a challenge. The `tone of our dance is competitive and aggressive
SHe was short, with blue eyes and blond curly hair. She didn't look like a treacher at all. SHe had us all sit so she could explain what was going to happen. We started off with a warm up stretch that last about a half hour. Then we went across the floor with leaps and turns. She wanted to see how good our ‘technique’ was. She corrected me and the other girl quit a few times; on our arms, legs, prep, and turn out. It felt as though we were taught wrong. Kyle mentioned to us that he also got those corrections, we’ve been learning improper technique from our old studio. But not everyone's teaching style is going to be the same, especially in dance. THen we got taught a contemporary combo, it wasn’t too hard but it had lots of leg movements, and it was too crowded to go all out. We split up into four groups; I was group three. I thought I did okay, but the thought of not being good enough stayed in the back of my mind as I watched all the other girls dance. They were all so good, in their own individual ways. The next combo we got taught was hip hop. Hip hop comes naturally to me, and I’ve always been one of the best. We also split up into our same groups and performed the combo. We had a lot more space than we did before because not everyone takes hip