5 Professionals Share What They Wish They Knew Before Starting Their Dance Career
Hindsight is 20/20, and we don’t have the luxury of knowing what the future will bring when making decisions about our dance career. Fortunately, we have the next best thing - professional dancers who have gone before us and are generous in sharing their wisdom and experience! I am so grateful to these five women for taking the time to give us a little insight into what they wish they knew before starting their dance career in the hopes that it will make your path a little smoother.
Based on my own experience, I couldn’t agree more. I honestly got chills reading these answers.
Of course, I had to add my two cents. 😉 So what do I wish I knew?
Success is subjective! To find fulfillment in your dance career, you have to define success based on what matters to you. So many of us spend our careers chasing a goal based on what our teachers, parents, and peers deem to be important. A dance career requires extreme focus, dedication, and perseverance - three things that can create magic when put toward a goal you are passionate about, but will quickly lead to burnout if your values are mismatched with the end target.
I wish that I had done the work to think about what my values were as a young dancer. To find the confidence to pursue a career based on what would make me happy, not what I perceived would make other people think I had “made it”. If you’re currently struggling with this, I highly recommend you take a look at The Brainy Ballerina® Intentional Career Handbook. I wrote it for you - an aspiring dancer who is ready to not only learn about the intricacies of the dance industry but also about yourself, your motivations, your dreams, and your goals. I can’t even express how much it would have helped 15-year-old Caitlin to own her choices with confidence - I know it will help you too!
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