I recently received a comment on my Ask Me Anything post that caught my attention. Michaela, an insightful dance student, recently decided not to pursue dance as a career path, and she was curious to explore the subject of competition, passion, and value in the dance studio. Because of the rarity of dance contracts and the … More Letter to a young dancer
So, I just the left the world of dance. And you’ve heard my story. But there are lots of other stories out there, often untold to the dance world. Or worse, misunderstood. When we are involved in an endeavor that has required such dedication to reach our level, it can be hard to understand why … More Another perspective on leaving the ballet world: Chloe Shelby
What is it like to be a dancer? What do we strive for? What do we fear? In my previous article, I wrote about my perspective of the pursuit of perfection in a ballet dancer’s life, and about what that might entail. I got a great response from all of you, but it made me wonder: “How … More 5 perspectives on the life of a professional ballet dancer
Not too long ago, a friend aptly noticed that I often refer to our goal as dancers as “reaching as close as we can to perfection.” He wanted me to unpack that statement. What does that even mean? Are we talking about technical attainment? Power or finesse? Maybe something else? As Steven put it, we’re transitional … More On dancing and the pursuit of perfection
A few months ago, Sports Illustrated released an article entitled: “How a book on stoicism became wildly popular at every level of the NFL.” This article detailed how The Obstacle is the Way, a book about the benefits of applying the ancient greek philosophy of Stoicism to life in the modern world, has spread throughout the NFL, including football … More Why the ancient greeks are the best ballet dancers: a brief look at Stoicism
We’re back with Yannick Boquin for round two of our interview. If you missed the first part of the interview, catch it here – if not read on. Yannick has spent time in pretty much all of the corners of the ballet world. Whether as a principal dancer, guest teacher, ballet master, or choreographer, he’s … More Yannick Boquin (part 2): lessons learned from a life dedicated to ballet
How do you inspire a group of dancers to live up to their full potential? One of the most important skills to learn as an artistic director, ballet master, choreographer, or teacher is learning how to speak to and manage the group. All bosses have to do it. Organizing a large group of people can … More Correcting the crowd: how group feedback affects us
In the first part of this article, I tackled the false idea that many of us (whether dancers or non-dancers) often have, which is that “you suck at dancing”. If you missed it, find it here. If not, read on. The second myth I want to take on in this article is this: it’s … More You suck at dancing and it’s your own damn fault (part 2)
Corporal Culture 