I am going to start with my first experiences of learning dance, and try to explain how much influence my dance lessons and the power of dance, has on my life every day.
I was in complete awe of the older dance students at my dance school and thought they looked so graceful, powerful, and so wonderful to watch. It was because of this I wanted to learn to be like them, and I was happy to practice and repeat exercises again and again until I improved.
So the first thing that I want to look at is how I felt about my teacher. Miss Dorothy, at the time she felt older than my parents but I am not sure how accurate that memory is. She was definitely someone you respected, looked up to, didn't want to disappoint and so whenever she asked for someone to volunteer to show an exercise on their own, I stepped forward. Not because I thought I was the best, far from it, but because that meant she would give me feedback. Which would help me get better, so eventually she would give me a “good ” or a “well done”.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't want you to think she was too tough or mean at all, she was none of those things, but, she did have a certain expectation and I wanted to feel like I had done my best, even though I was never THE best.
My dance lessons taught me to not be afraid of feedback or corrections, they taught me resilience, and gave me a desire to continue to grow and develop myself. The say goes Practice makes perfect, I am not perfect but practice does help you move forward and improve your future.
What is so wonderful about dance?- It develops self awareness and improvement
