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Why do we feel the need to call dance a sport? To somehow justify it?

If anyone questions our wish to commit to a childhood steeped in dance training, with a dream of becoming professional, here are some thoughts we can bring to the table.

Roughly 90 or 100% of dancers who attend ‘company’ affiliated pre-professional dance schools will likely become professional dancers.

Roughly 10% of dancers at regular dance studios will likely become professional. Roughly 10% of all professional dancers have an Arts Degree.

Now let’s compare these statistics to sport. Which people have no problem investing in.

Youth ice hockey players have roughly less than a 0.11% chance to play in the National Hockey League

Roughly 0.6% high school baseball players will get drafted by a Major League Baseball team.

Roughly 0.04% high school basketball players will get drafted by a National Basketball Association team 

Also, we have a habit of claiming that a dancers career is short, yet the average NHL player plays on average 4.5 years. The average NBA career, also 4.5 years.

The average professional dancer can perform for 25 years. As a career: teaching, coaching, mentoring; directing; choreographing til our chosen retirement age, we can continue for a lifetime.

I truly believe investing in any childhood Sport is worthy.

It is hugely valuable for children, regardless if they will go pro or not.

I just think could we be taking dance just as seriously.

Interesting ..what are your thoughts?

• STATS sourced from-
• hockeyanswered.com
• dunkorthree.com.
• hometeamsonline.co
• stickhandlingpro.com
• danceparent101.com

Ah, dance photography. What a wonderful way to capture talent and ability. However, what makes a great dance photo?

I urge young dancers and their parents… vet their photographers work. Are they capturing the athleticism and strength of the dancers? Are they showing the movement and energy of ones execution? Or are they simply posing (9 year olds) legs wide, thigh high stockings with tons of makeup. Note * Just because you can (get your leg high) doesn’t mean you should.

We are seeing trends in scantily clad under age children, legs akimbo.

Sexualised? Yes. Intentionally? Not always.

I urge parents. Capturing your child’s essence goes beyond ability, it is shown in artistry. I love to see emotion, muscle tone, gentle fingers, expression and stoicity. I love to see joy, height, movement and technique. You?

We need to ensure dance photographers are either experienced in dance, or collaborating with teachers and technicians.

Dance photography can be magical, yet it can also be disgraceful and it’s a very fine line between the two.

On this subject….let us please watch our comments.

“Cute; Pretty; Hot”?….is this what we’re aiming for? Please. No.

”Strong, breathtaking,impressive”? Why yes indeed.

Oh and how are we commenting on children of different genders? Think about it.

NO MATTER THE GENDER, CHILDREN DON’T OWE US PRETTY OR CUTE.

Let’s do our due diligence.

What is a great dancer without a great dance photographer? That is the question.

Glimpse into the organized chaos…

The music is in my being, it pulses throughout me as I’ve listened to it one hundred times. I arrive in the empty studio a large coffee in my hand and play the piece loudly through the speakers a couple more times before the dancers arrive.

I have no choreography set. Yet I have a pattern fermenting in my mind. The music tells me. Start centre, whirl to the diagonal… circle the stage, roll to the floor. It’s there in my subliminal mind.

The dancers arrive and I start to build the skeleton of the piece. “Try this. Go there. No. Yes. That works, that doesn’t. Wait… I love that! What did you do? Do it again”!

I build the piece with the artists. They are paint, I am the brush.

Then, I go home and relive it all. Sleep on it. The next day, we arrive back in the space. Music on.

Everything we’ve done… has settled. The paint has dried. Hmmmm. Is it satisfying? Does it resonate like it did yesterday?

No? Then let’s shift gears. Let’s switch the pattern, change the trajectory. “ There! Yes! That’s it… that’s better”

Did you know. Choreographic Pieces can be changed right up to performance day. Why? I don’t know. I guess we change our minds. Moods change. Dancers change daily.

So there it is. It’s an ongoing malleable, shifting shape. I’m never quite satisfied… however that’s the joy of it.

Then it is performed…Only to be enjoyed once. By that audience. In that moment in time. Exhausting? Yes. Nerve wracking? Yes. Do I love it? Indeed yes.

How do you create?

Practice.

Practice the art of practice.

We change. Our body changes. Therefore, every practice is valid.

We are always evolving even if we are practicing the same step, over and over. Infact, that IS the way to evolve.

I talk of the number 12.

12 times, 12 hours, 12 days, 12 weeks, 12 months, 12 years.

Any of these scenarios work whether repeating a simple barre exercise, transition or practicing a virtuoso movement. I have seen it work.

Dancers who actually have challenging physiques really struggle for a long time to gain satisfaction of movement (most humans are NOT designed for high level dance, we often don’t have natural turn out or natural flexibility). However, with constant practice…. Well then the saying comes true….

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard!”.

So go ahead and trust repeating the same level of class; two, three four years in a row. If your dance studio recommends this, they know, it is practice that will help you.

Practice is always valid. Always.

I’ll let you into a fun secret….all professional dancers will say, the early years of practicing and mastering a step are the most celebratory. Your first double pirouette? The cheers of your teachers are heartfelt. The 100th perfect double? becomes habit…then onto the next.

So enjoy the practice. Enjoy the repetition. Its like money in the bank… it gains small amounts interest over time. Then BAM. Your loaded.

Auditions.

Having been on both sides of an audition….my advice is this….

We must become professional auditioners.

Look at your career as a series of auditions. Seriously, think about it. It only takes ONE YES to get a job.

Ah, how marvellous they appear in ones memory! The chance of possibility, the chance of being chosen! What a wonderful feeling it was.

If you become a professional auditioner, you learn to enjoy the process. You will be give a chance to work with the top choreographers and the top directors. You may not get chosen for the job, yet you will experience a great day and a free class! Oh, and It’s a really good idea to go to auditions where you don’t want the job. You will dance with more freedom and less fear. This is great practice.

Truth…. you may not be chosen for the job at hand. However, you may be approached for a later gig.

Remember, at every audition, they already know what they are looking for.

Say they are looking for a strong spunky character, spicy and unique. What if you’re naturally demure? Delicate? Did you fail if you don’t get the gig? No, you were just in a position where someone more ‘obvious’ will be given the part.

However, you’d better believe next time they need a demure, dainty character….you’ll be their choice… Why?….Because the power of recognition is strong.

They will remark ‘Do we know them?’ ‘I remember them from somewhere? Then, if the audition had 24 demure actors… you will be chosen, because they already feel like they know you.

It’s also a chemistry thing. Do they feel you will gel well with the characters already cast? You have to also come across like you will fit in to their ensemble. This isn’t something one can control. This is just chemistry.

Stay unique, stay you and keep auditioning. PRACTICE auditioning by auditioning, you’ll get better at it!

It’s an entire career to practice in itself. Enjoy it. Practice it. Do it often.

It’s not personal. It’s only one yes in fifty no’s and you have a gig.

How do we solve a creative block?

I find that if I’m blocked, I need to search outside of myself.

‘Do not try and create alone’…

Start digging for treasure down the rabbit hole in other people.

As a choreographer….I look for 4 elements to help me;

Musicians

Prop masters

Costume designers

Story tellers

Costumes- I go thrifting in vintage stores for things that glitter and cascade. If I find a costume that is unconventional, rare and fabulous…I can build a whole piece around it! I can find the entire character just by finding the right costume design.

Props- I delve for random props. Other people’s trash is another woman’s treasure! (I once built an entire ballet around a colleagues monkey bars. We swung and climbed and laughed…..and yes, the collaboration of play with the 4 students I had…built and entire award winning piece).

Music- I go down the rabbit hole….from composers of Moroccan Chaabi to Portuguese Saudade….I explore rich cultures and bands as if I was at a Spice market surrounded by enticing aromas. Headphones in….dive, dive, dive.

Storytellers- Nature; escape to nature…I book a local campsite, cheap and easy, mid week. Pitch a one woman tent and listen to the night. It’s mystical what the owls, crickets and coyotes tell us when we sit and listen. They have so much to say.

Another idea, is to go out….and party….

Do something out of our usual comfort zone. Go out and buy paint and splosh it somewhere; book a night out to a live show, a drag show, a comedian, a musical. Something out of the norm.

Once I find the inspiration, I find the dancer…..who are they? What does my inspiration need? Many or few? A solo or an ensemble?

Oh, and I never choreograph alone….I go into the studio with an empty and open mind and I play. I always ask the dancers to collaborate. I treat choreography like I’m painting. I watch as it unfolds. Shading here and there…erasing and correcting as necessary.

Oooh ooooh, I’m on a roll….you know what random other thing I love?? British Crime Dramas! They’re so gritty and real and fun. A great escape.HAHA. Honestly, sometimes we just need bloomin distraction!

If we are creatively blocked where we are…….escape in others. That’s where the treasures are….. in the arms of others…let’s follow the white rabbit.. Down, down, down we goooooooooo.

Bipolar Disorder 2- A reminder;

Our brains can be sparkly, like a kaleidoscope, full of wonder and colour. Sparks fly and creativity is unbound.

The opposite can also be true.

We can also wake every day, with a cement blanket on our heart and our self esteem. We feel worthless and tortured with self loathing. This phase can last a long, long time. Well it feels long…days? Or weeks? Months or hours? Time passes from one numb day to the next. Our extra layer torn off, leaving us vulnerable as we gaslight our own brain.

What do we do with this?

We write. We nap, we eat well. We try to walk a little everyday. We make our bed every morning and head back to it early every afternoon. Maybe tomorrow will be different.

You know what I do know? One day, we wake up and it is different.

When the fog lifts we feel an upswing of gratitude. We burst with so much energy and delight, it’s as if we are a hot air balloon floating above the trees, buoyant with love. Memories of the depression fading into the mist below.

It can be exhausting. Yet so beautiful. I don’t know if I personally would choose a different brain, even when I think I would, for the good times are so rich with glitter like a firework.

So for now we lay low our stake in the ground. We wait for some unknown force to light the fuse.

Then, KAPOW. We will pop, whizz and cascade over life again.

Fizz….One more day Alice….pop…..one more week….crackle….. Hang in there, you’ve got this……BANG!

Dear Mum,

Thank you for never interfering with our dance careers.

Thank you for quietly and supportively dropping us off in the tiny 2CV (my little brothers and sisters as toddlers in the ‘very’ back) to the Stage Door, 3 daughters; over the span of 30 years; every single day.

Our hair, which cascaded to the back of knees, because our hippy dad wouldn’t let us cut it, was wrapped up into neat buns, braids, ponytails until we could do it ourselves…. Our squeals and ouches would be met with a firm ‘hold still’ as our tangles were twisted into the required hairstyle of our latest fad.

Our oblong ballet bags were always stocked with everything we needed our favourite ballet shop (Oh the trips to Ware, I can remember the warm wonderful smell of the shiny satins and lycras)! You had such little income, yet we never went without, you even hugged me warmly, calling me a silly bugger, when I got caught stealing candy from a sweet shop on one of my breaks! Lord, I was so scared remember?! After that, our Thursday tradition of yelling ‘tick tock tick tock!” So you would turn left at the post office and fill our paper bags with penny sweets was met with a yes, haha.

You patiently adhered to the rehearsal schedules as our ballet teachers required so much of us. You embraced the casting decisions of the director. You tirelessly applauded every. single. performance we were in. No matter how small or big the role. I will never forget the way you would hug us with such enthusiasm…whispering in our ear “You were the absolute best out there” (even if we obviously were not).

Not once did you try to critique us, not once did you interfere with our choices. You truly enabled us to ‘own’ our careers. The theatre felt like it was ours. Truly ours to discover. I can honestly say, your unwavering belief in our abilities, supplies me with the self esteem I have today. I never even questioned the theatre being my home from home, because you truly let me believe it was.

Ps. Thank you for selling the land of your own backyard, so we could afford to go to college. I’ve never forgotten it…and will appreciate my own backyard, where I write these blogs, forever.

Professional artists are Gypsies. When we are in any dance studio or a theatre-we are home.

Therefore, we belong in many places.

As a teacher this can prove tricky at times, in a competitive dance world. We can be misunderstood as disloyal. We do not necessarily pledge a loyalty to any one dance school. We pledge a loyalty…to dance.Yet dance studio owners and directors need loyalty in order to grow their business. This is completely understandable!

In order to feel fulfilled, many artists wingspan has to reach far and wide. We are not satisfied being in one place too long.

You know what? We are lucky. We meet so many incredibly talented people. We feel a strong urge to work with so many of them. The network we make, becomes family.

You see, the professional theatre world, is a family. They keep you buoyant when you’re sinking. They lift you up, when your spirits are low.

Therefore I implore young dancers. Spread your wings and be open to many experiences. Always stay humble and thank the people who got you to where you are. Do not burn bridges or think of yourself as ‘moving up’ instead, think of yourself as moving through.

Dance artists are gypsies through and through. When we find our common ground, the world is ours.

Thank you to my dance family. You know who you are. I’m so bloomin grateful.

When I’m overthinking, I write. When I’m under thinking, I read.

It seems early mornings, my mind is a buzz. I literally have a million thoughts and ideas whirring around in my head.

This blog has given me such a necessary outlet.

Once I began…the rest just happened.

It’s a mighty power, the mind. It can hold us back and it can propel us forward.

In the dance world, I come across do-ers and thinkers. I find the do-ers have an edge. They turn up. They turn up to everything that piques their interest. Workshops, pop up classes, auditions, conventions. There are less ‘what if’, and more ‘lets go’!

I have seen super talented children, over think their way out of opportunities,

I myself, as a child, talked myself out of so many opportunities.

Turning up is half the battle won.

I’d have given myself this advice…”Listen, if it’s terrible, you can always leave”!

So I urge my students to give things a try. Begin at the beginning, as a beginner and just see where the ride takes you. You can always exit the ride and take a different track. But we will miss the fun if we don’t begin in the first place.

I once read…”An artist is often yearning for their work to be so good, it looks like someone else did it“

What an accurate statement! How complex we are, how hard we are on ourselves. Yet, artists are like fingerprints…there are no two the same. Each individual, capable of a rawness and perspective that no one else on earth possesses.

So what of artistry? How important is it to a dancer?

Why, it’s vital.

Dance is a way of telling stories without words. The way we convey body language, is key. It is a pure form of primal human communication.

From dancer to audience. The performer is present in each moment, the language is passed from artist to audience, just to disappear into the applause and memories of the crowd once it’s over.

Therefore we must strive keep our own voice, only then can we be the true believable vessels for telling honest, human stories.