Competition Checklist

        If you're anything like me, you know that being organized is very important, and getting prepared for an upcoming dance competition can seem like a daunting task if you don’t have a good checklist in place. For me, I would be sure to forget something – probably something important, if I didn’t have my checklist to guide me, and since competition is right around the corner, I've made a checklist for all the items that are necessary for not only competition, but also performances.

The link to print and view this list is below. 

https://dm2-broadcast.officeapps.live.com/m/Broadcast.aspx?Fi=2fb58b76cd97c2a0%5F85b41530%2Dfd61%2D489f%2D8e5f%2D9a5a369b69d8%2Edocx

Competition Dance

Here is my competition dance! I'm performing the Cupid Variation from Paquita. I currently don't have the costume for the performance or my new pointe shoes yet. I also had to change the amount of turns due to the dance space issue. In the actual dance I have 10 turns, where as here I was only able to show four.

Hope you enjoy!!!

Balancing Dance and School

         Most dancers spend 2-3 hours, 5 days a week, taking dance classes. I myself think that this is ridiculous. You never have time to get some well deserved rest and you might start struggling at school. I know some dancers at my studio who have to come straight from school to class while doing their hair and putting on their clothes in the car. I also know some dancers who, in-between classes, will do their homework in the dressing room. I have no problem with those kids doing their homework there, but there comes a point when you have to wonder, "Which is first? Dance or School?" and you can only answer that question by asking yourself "Where do I spend more time at? The studio or at home doing my homework?"

All my school books!

        I see many of these girls in my class that are sacrificing their studies for dance. I myself wouldn't like to get up at 6am, go to school until 4pm, go to dance until sometimes 10pm, and then go do homework. That would be overwhelming for me, luckily I'm home-schooled so I don't have this situation. However, I have a rule in my house that if the chores aren't done by the time I have to get ready for ballet or my homework isn't done, then I can't go to my class. I do think that this is fair, but a lot of kids just can't do all of their homework 2 hours before class. I actually avoided this rule altogether (The homework rule) by taking classes on Friday night and throughout Saturday. Side note, I get Friday's off. Of course it isn't exactly ideal still, because I miss a whole day of my weekend, but it's the best thing for my school schedule.

My Homework Schedule

         My point of view about this is that these girls are striving to be professional dancers in their future, which almost 99% of them wont, and they think that dance comes first, then school. However, in the future when they realize that they aren't going anywhere with all those classes, they will have to get a job, but won't be able to because they didn't go to college, because they couldn't get in or didn't have any desire too. I don't have this mentality, of course I want to be successful in dance, but I know that I won't get into a fancy ballet school in New York, I won't become a well-known ballerina, I won't win a lot of competitions, and I know that if I don't study I won't be successful at anything.

        Another turning point on this subject is that doing well on your homework, especially math, is actually beneficial for dance. Dancers always do movements in 8 counts, and being able to associate those counts with the music is a hard thing, but it's made easier by not only being good at math but also, playing piano, singing, and doing another sport. I have played piano since I was 7 and have sung since age 6, and I am still continuing with those practices, but I feel like I have an advantage over the other girls since I'm in tune with beats, counts, and even just music!

Ballet is sweat, tears, blood, blisters, time, money, and competition, but the most important part is to always have fun!
      

        

         

        

How Being Competitive Can Help and Hurt You

               Being competitive is very normal and common during everyday life. However, during a dancers whole career they have to be competitive. Even during normal classes, you're always thinking "Who's the best in class?", "How can I be like them?", "Which one of these people should I pay the most attention too?", "Who's my biggest competition?" , because, during class your teacher is writing your evaluation, you're possibly being chosen for competition, and you just have that natural drive to pass every ones limits and do everything that they can't do. In fact, I was actually thinking about all those things right before my teacher chose me out of about 20 other dancers to participate in competition this year.

               Being competitive is a real confidence booster. You can push yourself to do new routines and movements or even just perfect the ones you were working on before! Being a naturally competitive person myself I can say truthfully that it can really help you improve, however I also remember a time when it could eat me whole... I would go to a piano recital and get first place but I'd still beat myself up for missing a note or playing off tempo, even though the judge said I did good. Therefore, even though being competitive has its good parts, it also has its bad.
                
      The down sides of being competitive are,

1. Possibly over exerting yourself because you tried something you weren't ready for.                    If you over-do yourself you could get any type of injury from, getting a twisted ankle to seriously hurting your back. You could even just get a really bad blister, but even that can have some major consequences.
2. You get really emotional and angry when you can't and/or didn't do something you wanted to do and you often direct those feeling to the people around you. This is actually something that I do, and it definitely doesn't help me or the other people around me.
3. You might spend a lot of money on things that you don't really need, but you felt the need to get them just because you wanted to seem better than everyone else. Remember, you don't need any fancy-smancy stretching devices, that usually don't even work, to make you feel like you're better than everyone else.

 Ballet is sweat, tears, blood, blisters, time, money, and competition, but the most important part is to always have fun!