Dance is usually seen as an “easy” thing, void of blood, sweat and tears but I can tell you that is far, far, far, far, far from the truth and I have more than enough personal stories of all three in the dance studio and even on stage.
I could never count the number of times I’ve fallen on my butt in the middle of the dance floor or tweaked my ankle or how many times I’ve removed my shoes to find bloody toes. I spent five years from the end of high school and through college fighting tendinitis throughout both ankles. I even broke my foot while teaching when we lived in Oklahoma.
Dance is one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever done, even now. You spend hours at a time in front of a mirror doing the same thing as the person next to you. And while we’re told not to compare or worry about how others are doing, it’s hard not to. And while this competition is normal in sports (going faster, higher, farther), in dance you have to make it look easy while doing the most strenuous work you’ve ever done. You can’t scrunch your face or grimace. You have to (literally) grin and bear it, especially when you’re onstage.
And I’ve had plenty of stage faux pas. Like the time I had to dance with a playground ball and chucked it into the audience in the middle of the dance by accident. Or when my body got ahead of my feet and I ended flat on my butt in the middle of the stage. Or the time I hit a slick spot and went sliding across the stage, perched on the edge of one pointe shoe. Or the time I improved a few phrases too early and was doing my own thing while everyone else was in a tight formation.
But nothing will ever top my senior performance in high school. We did a series of fairy tales including the Prologue from Sleeping Beauty (the part with the fairies). I was always late coming on and didn’t want to upset my teacher (again) so I accidentally ran on early instead. My friend who was supposed to enter with me didn’t want me to get in trouble either so followed me on stage.
When I realized I was early, I turned around and ran back off. Except my friend was there and she is half a head shorter than me so when I turned around to go back, my nose met her forehead. There was blood instantly, gushing from my nose. It was broken.
My mom took me to the ER but there was nothing they could do until the swelling went down so I returned to the theatre and finished the rehearsal. I danced two full performances after that (the best I’d ever danced) and had my nose fixed a few weeks later.
So don’t ever tell ME dance is easy or not as physical as sports. I have the scars, pictures and x-rays to prove otherwise!
Read more about my ballerina moments and dancing adventures.
