Head up, shoulders back, strong arms, stomach in, straight back, turn out, pointed toes, breathe: this was my mantra for one and a half hours a day, three days a week, for nine years. Ballet has been one of the most important teachers in my life in multiple aspects, and self discipline, both body and mind, was a major one. I realized important connections between self discipline, habits, and personal growth. I found myself applying the life skills I learned at the dance studio to life beyond. This was influential in creating the type of dancer, student, and individual I am today.
Retaining self discipline is the first step towards forming good habits. If you have this ability you can differentiate between the choice that may be more enjoyable and the choice that is the best at the end of the day. Over time self control over oneself can become a habit. Author Charles Duhigg explains, “If you believe you can change—if you make it a habit—the change becomes real” (Duhigg). This is powerful because it means that you are the ultimate creator of your own actions. To change a bad habit, you can exert self control to reverse the behavior and eventually you change yourself.
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In ballet and at school I was never a “natural.” It took me years to execute forte turns on pointe, there were simply not my strong suit. Despite this, I was able to overcome these initial difficulties because of my dedication to success which translated into more practice and consequent results. This is the reason behind my growth and ability to hold my own beside those more natural gifted, “self discipline has a bigger effect on academic performance than does intellectual talent ” (Duhigg). This formula for success, can be applied to any obstacle whereas innate natural ability is limited to that one category. Any challenge can be broken down into manageable pieces when you approach it in the right
Learning about Dance: Dance as an Art Form and Entertainment provides visions into the many features of dance and inspires scholars to keep an open mind and think critically about the stimulating, bold, ever-changing and active world of dance. Learning about Dance is particularly useful for those who do not have a wide and diverse dance contextual, such as students in a preliminary level or survey dance course. This book consists of twelve chapters. Chapter one dance as an art form focuses on the basic structures of dance. Dance is displayed through the human body, it has the control to communicate and induce reactions. Dance can be found in many different places, it enables the participants and seekers to touch and knowledge the joy of movement. Dance is discovered as being one of the oldest art forms worldwide. Dance existed in early cultures was recognized in a sequence of rock paintings portrayed dance. Since this discovery of rock paintings, several other forms of art have been found that depict dance. People used rituals in order to worship the gods and believed that the rituals held magical and spiritual powers. During the ancient period civilizations sentient decisions began to be made with regard to dance. Other periods that had an impact on dance were the medieval period, the renaissance period, and the contemporary period. Chapter two the choreographer, the choreographer is a person who comes up with the movements created into a dance routine. The choreographer expresses themselves through choreography because this is their way of communicating with the audience. In order to be a choreographer you must have a passion for dance. Each choreographer has their own approaches and ways of making up a routine. Choreographers ...
Habits are choices that one continues to do repeatedly without actually thinking about them. Habits start with a decision, but they eventually become automatic. One can probably think about things we do every day that we wish we did less of, perhaps like binging Netflix, constantly checking social media, or snacking when not being hungry. If one can understand how habits are triggered, one can learn how to overcome them. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and “Rat Park” by Lauren Slater will reveal the main strategies to recognize and overcome habits. Angie Bachman, a women who developed a gambling habit due was well aware of her habits, but she continued to drag herself into debt, resulting in losing all that she owned and getting sued by
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.
“Aim at softness and ease in your performance of dance. Endeavor that all shall be harmonious. However hard you work at your lessons or at rehearsals let none of this effort be visible in your performance. There must be no sign of concentration, exertion, or tension. All must be free and natural. For the true art is that which conceals the labor that produced it,” (Evolution). This statement by Cecchetti himself shows the world of dance and some of the things that are required of you. When reaching the professional level and auditioning for ballets this lesson is taught quite quickly. It isn’t realized before that time and can hinder the dancer quite greatly. Cecchetti was taught many lessons at a very young age and he became an amazing dancer, teacher, and choreographer because of the way he grew up. This path lead him to make a way where more people could get the opportunities he had. Cecchetti changed ballet greatly because he set up a new method that leads young dancers along the best path to become a professional ballerina.
New Dance is described as a developing art form; this dance was articulated in the early 20th century. According to Chapter 8 in History of Dance book, “the new dance emerged as a response to the ballet that populated the variety shows and music halls, which had a rigid formula of steps and poses” (Kassing). The New Dance was a product of several strands that interlaced together dancers’ studies and backgrounds; these strands and others were woven together in a historical, political, and societal framework. For instance, one strand of New Dance consisted of the concepts, techniques, costumes, and stage settings from around the world. These strands influenced major dancers and choreographers, such as, Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, Ruth St. Denis, and Ted Shawn.
Ballet is not only the foundation for all dance forms, it is a foundation for confidence and self-awareness as
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain." This is my all-time favorite quote. It is my motivation when the skies around me become cloudy. It is the fuel that feeds my ever-growing hunger to dance. Living by this motto will help me achieve my goal of becoming not just a professional dancer, but also an inspiration to others. My strong extracurricular background provides for a solid base, serving as a great steppingstone as I reach closer and closer to making my dream a reality.
Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit, acknowledges how habits control our daily lives in every decision we make. For Instance, an ambitious woman named Lisa Allen, has not always had a fruitful life. Previously, she had abused her body with harmful toxins such as tobacco and alcohol since the beginning of her teenage years. Carrying out these habits everyday resulted her into being unmotivated and unconfident. In fact, she never kept a job longer than a year and began to fall into major debt. “She needed a goal in her life, she thought. Something to work toward” (xii-xiv). It begins with the “three-step loop” a cue that triggers our brain to do the habit. Next a routine, a set of actions that are either physical or mental. Finally a reward of satisfaction that determines whether or not this habit will be continuous (19). Not all habits can be good, but this is where the golden rule applies. Duhigg explains that in order for you to change your habit “ you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine”(62). “However, simply understanding how habits work- learning the structure of the habit loop makes them easier to control”( 20). Reading The Power of Habit, helped me understand the process by which I made a positive change to fight procrastination.
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
Megan Thee Stallion has become one of the most famous female rappers in recent years. Her audience is drawn to her empowering lyricism and unapologetic persona. As a prominent component of her identity, she frequently refers to her hometown of Houston, Texas in her songs. She often refers to herself as the ‘H-Town Hottie’. The three-time Grammy winner references the culture of Houston in her songs, as well as establishing herself as a role model to the citizens of the city.
In our daily life, people meet many obstacles that block our way and tempt us to give up what we work for. While having ballet class, Mrs. Annie taught us many hard movements that I could not master easily. When I mastered hard tasks, the tricky movements, unconsciously I figure out to have a more hopeful, patient attitude in other similar situation. Ballet teaches the students to have confidence whatever they do, especially for little girls. Also, by trusting others I received a lot of encouragement, which made me have confidence in myself when I danced on the stage.
Have you ever thought about the history of dance, or how long human life has known it? Dance has been here longer than we actually think. We can take dance back all the way to 600 BC to Now. Dance has made very big changes overtime. It went from doing it in honor for only the dead or religious situations to now just doing it for fun. The way or different moves have also changed over this big course in time. It ways and moves have changed, and the outfits used to perform these different types of dances. There has been clean and dirty dancing all along, some of things in those dances have stayed, others haven’t. Dance has been a very great thing and will stay being a great thing during human life because it expresses a lot. It expresses itself, and a person can express their feelings, in the different kind of moves. It does take time to get to know the moves but you can get through.
Achieving any goal requires self-discipline. It involves a conscious awareness of our actions and the ability to overcome some of the bad habits that might be holding us. Instilling self- discipline into our lives is not easy task.
“Dance, the art of precise, expressive, and graceful human movement, traditionally, but not necessarily, performed in accord with musical accompaniment. Dancing developed as a natural expression of united feeling and action.”