On your way to sucess: Don't forget to enjoy your life
How to build a dance career that you love
photo by Febi Ariyanto- on Pexels
Happy Sunday Dancers,
In today’s newsletter we’ll cover:
Why we need to make the (sometimes) hard journey of a dancer more enjoyable
How we can make it more enjoyable
How to make space for artistic growth and your personal life
Sometimes life is like a train ride
Exactly 2 years ago I was on my way to the Netherlands for my graduation ceremony.
In the morning before the ceremony I got on the train thinking:
“Please, DB (train company in Germany) don’t let me down today.” DB is known for its delays, canceled train connections and broken air conditioning.
Paired with sweating bodies squeezed together and a sprinkle of german impatience. On that day it was as bad as it hasn’t been in a long time. In Düsseldorf, a young man approached me asking me when the connection train would arrive.
I told him I had no clue. Since there was nothing else to do then waiting, we started talking.
The situations got worse but traveling with my new found friend made it enjoyable. Instead of being annoyd that the train didn’t come, we bought ice cream and sat in the sun.
When I finally arrived at my destination I felt light and positive.
This is how a draining journey can turn into a fun and eventful experience.
Why am I telling you this story?
An artists life can feel like a train ride with complications.
The important questions is though: “How do you make the journey enjoyable for yourself?”
My life in the last years has been shaped by not knowing what the next month would bring. Making plans for the future was tough because I never knew where I would be in six months.
When would the train come to bring me to my next destination in life?
Why investing time in my social life when I will leave again anyway?
On my long journey to sucess I forgot to enjoy the emptiness in my calendar and to make the best use of my time.
I knew I had to change something if I wanted to keep pursuing my dance career. I knew that I wanted to reach my goals but without loosing the fun in it. A traveling buddy makes a train ride joyful, so I decided to find one for myself.
Here are 2 things I do to make my journey to sucess more enjoyable.
1. I build a life outside of professional dance
One of my new years resolutions for 2024 was to get better social skills and to do a hobby on a regular basis.
I asked myself: what social activity do I enjoy where I could meet new people? Social dancing. So I registered in my local dance school at the West Coast Swing course. West Coast Swing is a dance you dance with a partner. The coolest thing is that the traditional gender roles are not important. Women dance with women, men with men and women with men.
One is the leading person and the other one is following and sometimes you switch roles.
What changed since I dance West Coast Swing?
I feel more energized and happier in general. I found a hobby that I like to do next to my professional dance career. I do it for fun and because I like the people.
I have more energy and passion for my work.
2. I create more
Only because I’m not hired in a dance project at the moment doesn’t mean that I can’t be creative. I realised that I waste my time being discouraged that I don’t dance on stage at the moment. Instead I use the freedom and go to the studio to explore movement ideas. I let go of needing to produce something with an outcome.
Spending time in the studio makes me feel like I do something meaningful. Something that brings me closer to my goals.
I want to be a dancer. So I don’t sit at home procrastinating. I dance.
Through movement I shape my artistic identity. It doesn’t happen by sitting around and worrying that I don’t have enough work. The only thing that helps is to get moving. To get creative.
Surprisingly, once I’m in the flow, I find solutions and answers to unsolved problems.
I remind myself that, I’m taking my work serious but having fun is equally important.
Something to remember
The life of a dancer comes with change of location and constantly being ready to move on to something new. That doesn’t mean that you can settle and build a steady and stable lifestyle. In fact, you need a comfort zone when your artistic life is challenging and unexpected.
These little islands of safety give you the strength to cope with the high demands of your job.
Your professional dreams won’t suffer because you allow yourself to settle. Know that you can always leave but it’s nice that you can come back to your nest.
Enjoy the pit stops on your journey and you will enjoy the process much more.
Get yourself a travel buddy.
Your weekly prompts for reflection
On your journey to sucess, what are the things that make it enjoyable for you?
Whenever you get too caught up in “succeding as a dancer” what do you do to clear your mind?
Source of Inspiration
photo by Jessica Lewis 🦋 thepaintedsquare- on Pexels
Fun fact about me:
I’m obsessed with notebooks. Preferably empty notebooks in different sizes.
I don’t know why but I’m intrigued by an empty page that holds so much space for genius ideas. I think it’s the same with my life. It often feels like a blank page that wants to be filled with meaningful memories.
So today’s Source of Inspiration is an empty notebook, I guess.
If you’re a creative being like me you need a place to hold all your ideas and plans. I feel the internal stress when I don’t empty my mind on to the page. All the ideas that surprise me at 2 am at night need a place to live.
Writing in a notebook has something calming and grounding.
I’d encourage you to give it a try.
Here is a link to one of my favorite notebook brand (I’m not sponsored by them) I’ve been using for a couple of years now.
That’s it from this week’s newsletter. See you next Sunday :)
keep on moving,
Barbara from The Dancer’s Way
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