Dancer, You Are Not Your Turnout

Dancer, you are not your turnout. You are not your extensions. You are not your pirouettes to the left (can I get a hallelujah?!).

And yet, as Dancers, it is easy to get our self-worth confused with progress toward our goal of being our best. What would it look like to release ourselves from this connection…even just a little bit?

For today, can we allow the super-high expectation we have for ourselves to sit on its own shelf – separate from the shelf where we store our identity and self-worth? It’s not that we have to lower our expectations of ourselves as artist-athletes (please don’t accuse me of suggesting that!) – just invite in some healthy separation between our goals and our value as humans. If we can make some space here, how would it affect our experience in class?

The next time we fumble all over petite allegro to the left (um, who doesn’t this happen to?), can we remember that we are MORE than the sum of our glissade jetés? Let’s play around with where our thoughts go in these tight spots - these spots where our joy can be stolen - and see if we can breathe some of this healthy space into our class experience. My bet is there’s a little more joy to be found there…

Create a little more space and enjoy a little more freedom!

XO,

Dancer, 360°