I fell OFF stage?!? A little story time

We all have our embarrassing moments in dance. Whether on stage or in the studio, we make mistakes. No body is perfect, and that's alright, because perfect is boring. You probably already know where I'm getting at based on this title. And before you ask- yes it is possible to fall off the stage.

December 21st 2016- A wonderful Christmas show. During one lovely performance, we were to gracefully skip down the aisle and hand out a hand full of candy canes to the audience members. I thought it was a cute little touch, but to do this, us dancers had to cheerfully walk down those incredibly steep steps on the side of the stage. Quickly grab a bag of candy canes, and do our cute little business. I was worried about this before hand, because I'm incredibly clumsy and on top of that, those stairs were hard to get down.
And when the time comes, you know it, I fell. On the last step too. Isn't it crazy? Thus falling, my natural reaction was to jump back up and walk gracefully and happily down the isles. I bet my dance instructor was slapping his forehead at me. That, or he didn't notice. (Hoping it was the second one LOL!). It was so embarrassing for me and at the time it was a pretty dramatic event.
But now I'm pretty much amused at the memory, and happy that I didn't get hurt.

Lessons learned!!


Let us know in the comments if you had an embarrassing moment on stage. Thanks for reading this post.

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Important note #2

Beh, nessuno è perfetto e sbagliando s'impara. Per migliorare, è necessario essere pazienti e la pazienza è una virtù. Ogni cosa ha il suo tempo, bisogna solo avere la pazienza e la forza di aspettare. Non competere con nessuno, sii la migliore versione di te stesso. Ne sai più di quanto credi, fidati di te stesso. A volte può essere un fardello - avere forza.

An important note #1 -

http://balletvoices.blogspot.it/2016/12/cose-ballerine-fanno.html?m=1 

Pesso guardiamo a noi stessi, solo per vedere i nostri difetti. I difetti che altre persone non possono vedere. Le cose che non sono importanti. Spesso perdiamo tempo cercando di risolvere le cose che non sono compromesse. Basta essere fiduciosi, amare se stessi e chiunque altro. Ama il tuo corpo e ama la tua anima. Fa una grande differenza nella vostra danza.

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@Ballet.for.brains

Dealing with Stereotypes and Body Image Issues

Unfortunately, stereotypes are very prominent in the dance world and it’s affecting many people’s dance careers:

(This post is gonna be a long one, so grab yourself a drink and a snack J)

Most dancers, especially ballet dancers, find it very hard to fit into the mould that the dance world has created over the years. Not all dancers are tall, thin, white and blonde, and not all dancers have hyperextensions and naturally arched feet (!). The problem with these stereotypes and the moulds that have been created, is that it can cause many eating disorders, self-confidence issues and injuries.

*this post is in collaboration with @dwimpye, @eryery123 and @m_dancer18 on Instagram – go check them out!*

The first question that I’d like to attempt to answer, is how do I deal with the “tall and thin” stereotype? Here’s what Melinda thinks:

Firstly, it’s important to learn that you can dance no matter what you look like. Tall, short… none of it matters if you truly love to dance. Don’t let anyone stop you from doing what you love.

As for the whole “skinny” stereotype, I have a few more words to say about that one. Not all dancers are skinny, and not all dancers have an extremely fast metabolism. We’re all different, and that’s the beauty of our world – everyone is unique and everyone has something different they can bring to society.

Unfortunately many dancers suffer from trying to be skinny enough for dance and start reducing the amount that they eat (drastically). There’s a difference between bulimia and anorexia, and I’d like to talk about both, because many think that if you’re a dancer, you’re naturally gonna be anorexic. Don’t try to lose weight to be a better dancer or to have a body that’s more suitable for dance. If anything, try to work on building strength and working on your technique. Dance classes are pretty much the best workout you can get: you work on your form, strength, and you sweat (cardio). Something I want to stress, is that there’s a difference between “fat”, muscular and thin – and that all 3 are perfectly all right. Don’t let one person’s opinion affect your life! You’ll move on to bigger and better things in the future, and those things that were bothering you now, are going to be just a mere bad experience.

          Now we all know that casting directors love tall dancers, but not all of us are blessed with long legs and arms! Misty Copeland was told that she was too short and muscular to be a dancer. Now she’s a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and is more successful than ever! Don’t let something as silly as your height define whether you’re going to be a successful dancer or not – there are many other things that come into play when it comes to being cast in for a role, for example confidence(!).

Unfortunately colour is still an issue in the dance world, and it’s affecting many dancers’ lives - not Destiny’s! Here’s what she has to say:

Don’t be upset if one or two companies don’t accept you because of your skin colour. It’s their loss, not yours. You’ll get to audition for another company who’ll see beyond the colour of your skin and you’re going to be much happier there. If you’re preparing for an audition and you’re worried that they may turn you down because of the colour of your skin, make sure you work hard enough that they don’t have a reason to reject you. After all, auditions are about talent: the only reason they could have to reject you, is not being good enough – not the colour of your skin. Don’t let something as silly as that get in the way of your career!

Need some extra motivation? Erin has something she’d like to tell you!

Marina https://www.instagram.com/m.a_dancer/

Amanda https://www.instagram.com/amandakuznetsov/