For the LOVE of Dance!

How would you complete this sentence?

For the love of dance, ______________________________________.

Or

______________________________________, for the love of dance.

In my life, I have given up important things for the love of dance. I actually missed my brother’s wedding for my drill team’s state competition. Yep, and my brother told me, “If my football team had made the playoffs and it was on your wedding day, I would go to the playoff game.”

But the love of dance has done great things in my life. The love of dance gave me a safe place to be free and expressive during a tumultuous childhood. The love of dance helped me graduate from high school and continue to college to be a Rangerette. The love of dance gave me some of my closest friends and the most amazing dance teachers!

It has given me a career that has lasted over 35 years now. The love of dance allowed me to travel all over the US, teaching dance camps. Currently, as a full-time fitness professional, the love of dance has brought me full circle to training dancers!

I want to encourage you, whether you are a dancer or a dance teacher, a dance team coach, or simply a dance enthusiast, to think back over your time in dance to remember those precious moments in a classroom or on stage where you were in LOVE with DANCE!

Do you have moments where you can feel the nerves tingle up your spine before the curtain opens?

Do you have memories of hitting that perfect pirouette or leap that you practiced so many times that your cheeks hurt from smiling so big?

Can you remember catching a friend’s eye during a performance and seeing that same joy and love on their face?

How about catching your teacher or choreographer’s eye while performing, and they are smiling and clapping, knowing the hard, hard work you put into bringing their piece to life on stage?

What about hearing that roaring applause when you hit that ending pose?

This is what we work for, train for, and practice for. But can you also recall some times in dance when you didn’t hit that turn, or did you miss a step? Those are not the ‘glory’ times, but they are also crucial for growing and learning.

Dance class, rehearsal, and performance experience will, if not already, impact your daily life and relationships with lessons learned.

That is also the LOVE of DANCE!

Dance has been so important in my life, and I know the times I didn’t get the part were probably the most impactful learning experiences, and, looking back with 20/20 hindsight, the best thing for me.

I would love to hear your moments, your memories, and the hard lessons of your DANCE story if you would like to share them with me.