Inspiring.

Sometimes, after a long day of rehearsal or a tough class, I loose my drive and desire to dance. I love it, but it gets kind of hard to stay in love with it when you are completely exhausted or in a lot of pain. That's when I usually watch an inspiring video or movie that reminds me of how much I really do love to dance. This video is at the top of my list for these kinds of moments...



Polina Seminova is such a beautiful dancer with so much spirit. Watching her dance makes me aspire to be just like her. She has a perfect body and is really thin, but is so strong at the same time. The growth of the music throughout the song and the intensifying of her movements make the video end on an encouraging note. After watching this it makes me compare my own abilities to hers, and then it gives me the drive to be better. So, if anyone else feels the same way that I do time and again, I would highly recommend watching this video; It creates all kinds of inspiration.

Senior Dance Show

So, last night I went to the Senior Dance Show.. and it was wonderful!!!

There are only three seniors this year so the show was very short- only three numbers long (it lasted about a half an hour). But, the quality of the dances made the effort of coming to the show well worth it. :)

The first collection of dances was choreographed by Amy and she did a really great job. There was a lot of symbolism in the dances and it was fun to try to figure out. She also put in a lot of really neat poses at the end of each section (there were three sections), so they were interesting to watch for. It was also really sweet because the whole thing was dedicated to her Grandma who passed away. The whole thing was just a very emotional ordeal, and it was really neat to see her growth as a dancer portrayed to the audience in such a beautiful dance.

Next, was a solo by Andrea. It was also very beautiful. First of all, her outfit was so adorable and really seemed to fit her personality and the dance at the same time. The song that she used was "Held" by Natalie Grant, which is a very graceful song that fit the movements perfectly. The whole dance was about how great it was to be held by God, and what that meant to her. I had never seen her do a solo before, so this was really nice. She is so lovely and graceful that it was wonderful to watch her dance by herself.

The final piece was called "Hail to the Chief," choreographed by Evelyn, and it was so powerful. It was all about racism and putting an end to it. The music was a compilation of Kelly Clarkson singing, and Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama speaking about change. There were a great deal of people in it too- some of the girls from my college, along with the members of the Messiah Dance Company and they all looked so great dancing together. Parts of the dance were fast and chaotic, where others were slower and held, which provided a really nice contrast. The lighting of this dance was also very memorable and went with the idea of the dance very nicely. After watching this dance, it left my friend Sarah and I so empowered that we didn't know what to do with ourselves. We were ready to change the world, which is how I'm sure everyone else in the audience felt as well.

Going to this concert was definitely worth it. It was great to see some of the seniors' last dances. It was a little sad, but at least we still have another concert with them!! It made me realize how little time we really do have until we're seniors too... Time flies when you're having fun I guess!

Too skinny?

It's been a longstanding trend that dancers are really skinny. But when is it time to say, "That's enough"?

I say now. Dancers, ballerinas in particular, seem to be getting skinnier and skinnier. It seems like, the less amount of fat that you have on your body, the more successful you will be in the dance world. It's really sad. The more ribs you can see the prettier, and more graceful you are, according to societal standards, and then those girls are the ones that get the jobs.

I think that this is ridiculous. There should be more representation of normal, healthy girls in the world, especially in the dance world, so that girls do not have to starve themselves in order to fit in. Women these days need to know that they are beautiful, no matter what size they are, not pressured into becoming thinner and thinner. It's nice to be thin, but being healthy is even better.

So, what I'm getting at is that dancers should take a stand and not starve themselves for a change. I think that companies should make sure that their dancers are skinny only because they are really healthy before they hirer them. Our country is obviously in a great state of change, so why not change this while we're at it??

Sport or not?

Throughout all my years of dancing... this has always been a debate that I have gotten into...


Is dancing a sport or not?


First of all, lets define sport. According to dictionary.com, a sport is "an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc."


My opinion is based on a certain kind of dancing. I am talking about Ballet, jazz, and modern. The kind of dancing that you have to do almost every day of the week to stay in shape. The kind of dancing that professionals do and are able to live off of. I think that this kind of dancing is a sport, not just an artistic activity. Now, before you freak out, listen to my reasons...


1. Dancing is one of the most hardcore activities out there. I saw this quote on a bumper sticker once, and it describes exactly what I mean, "If dancing were any easier, it would be called football." People always seem to underestimate how much work goes in to being a dancer and how admirable it really is. Dancers have to keep in shape all the time, and they work muscles that most of the other sports have never heard of. So, the "physical prowess," as it says in the definition is definitely there.


2. According to the definition, a sport also has to have a certain amount of skill. Dancing definitely requires that as well. In order to be successful, dancers must have a certain level of skill and they had to have gone through a certain level of training, so skill is a given for dancers.


3. The third qualification is that a sport is usually somewhat competitive. Dancing can be competitive in two ways. One being that there is a lot of competition inside of the companies between the dancers. Dancers can be ruthless when they want to. Also, there is competition dancing, where you can take dances and perform against others to try and win. So, it's not like there is no competition in dancing.


So, according to the definition on Dictionary.com, dancing is a sport. Most people just think of it as an art, but I think it can go in both categories. It is beautiful to watch and physically strenuous at the same time!!! But yeah, it's definitely a sport.