Collab Project Part I

Hello darlings!❤️

Sorry for the lack of posts this past month, I have been dealing with my injury and a bunch of other things. I can finally dance again in one week and to say that I’m ready is a complete understatement! 

Anyway, for this blog post, I decided to do something different! I interviewed 13 different dancers and asked the exact same three questions just to get all sorts of different perspectives. Today I will just be posting the answers to the first question I asked. Tomorrow will be the second, and Saturday will be the third! So, here we go!

Question #1) What does dancing mean to you?

“Dance is life. You can dance to express joy and pain, you can use dance as a way to rid yourself of sorrow. This exercise and art wrapped in one.”~Bethlyn 

“Expressing myself without words, and transporting myself and audience members into a magical world.”~Chantelle

“Dancing checks so many boxes for me. I get to work my body and my mind. It helps with my anxiety given that you can't really be worrying about anything when you're so focused on getting something right in class. It has the social aspect - I've made some really great friends from class. It's also a creative outlet for me.”~Eboni

“Dancing means the absolute world to me. But I can’t say I love to dance because I'm constantly at war with it. I'll never be good enough and I'll always be making mistakes. It's worth it though. Dancing is the only way I know how to live, and the only way I can. Take it away from me and I'll be nothing. So, no, I don't love to dance. I'm alive because of it. Dancing is how I live. Dance has been ingrained into every fiber of my being all my life. It runs in my veins. I am nothing without dance.”~Tara

“As someone who started ballet training later in life, dance really gave me a sense of purpose. With a strict schedule, I was able to learn important skills in time management that I know have defined who I am and who I will become, even if it has nothing to do with dance. Dance has also helped me to learn how to set specific goals and work hard to achieve them. If I hadn't received the ballet training that I have, I don't think I would be as driven or focused as I am today. I'm not planning on involving ballet in my career, but taking class makes me feel stronger and better as a person.”~Meaghan 

“What dancing means to me is happiness and inclusion. When I dance I feel the music and I feel like it takes me somewhere where I have no limits and it makes my heart feel so good inside.”~Cierra 

“ For me dancing means the space and structure to grow and create in ways the really resonate with my soul.”~Julia

“Honestly, it means freedom. I know every dancer and their mother will say that, but that truly what it is. It’s not just one type of freedom though. It’s freedom of expression, to use body and music to show what you what to express instead of words. This was a new found idea for me when I was younger because I’m a talker (I didn’t know how to be quiet!). It’s also freedom from life and the worries that come from it. Through a period of my life, probably the hardest of my young life so far, I loved dance because I was able to get away from the stress that invaded my home life. I still remember being eleven, sitting in the upstairs studio as the days rehearsal for out latest production came to a close and just feel at peace for the first time in days. I also see it as freedom of the part of you that most people don’t see. I can set parts of myself free that others don’t know about me as I dance. I can show how I’m sad, heartbroken. When I play a villainous character, I can show that dark part of myself. Dance is not simple ‘freedom’ to me. It’s many different forms of freedom.”~Autumn

“Dancing means gaining a sense of freedom from finding a balance of getting the technique right but also having the ability to transcend yourself through artistry and performance quality and pushing beyond the boundaries.”~Clarissa 

“Dancing is my refuge whenever my life gets crazy. It is the most enjoyable thing I've ever done in my life and I feel kinda complete when I'm dancing. Classes are the time of the week to clear my mind and stop worrying about things.”~Mara

“Dancing is what gets me up in the morning its hard to describe how exactly it makes me feel. As a student dance gets me through the craziest days because I can look forward to going to class at night. I have stopped dancing and tried swimming, volleyball, gymnastics and even took a shot at writing a book but every time I've always come back to dancing because thats what I love most.”~Anne 

“Dancing means life to me because I just can't live without it! I stopped ballet for 2 years when I was younger and that was the biggest mistake of my life. I was really disappointed of my self that I stopped ballet because I wasn't the same person I was when I did ballet.”~Eleni

“Dancing to me is an outlet where I can express myself because I find it hard for me to communicate how I'm feeling with words. So with dancing I can express how I feel with movement.”~Haley

This was such a fun project to be able to collaborate with so many amazing people with such amazing passion! So what does dancing mean to me?

Dancing is a way of being able to let the real world go, it is a way of letting all the worries of reality fall off your shoulders. In dance you lose yourself; it is just you and the music... Nobody else. It is a way of being free and flying! When I dance I feel invincible, like nothing can bring me down; as soon as I walk onto stage, the overwhelming passion fills my veins. Dancing is a stress reliever, a meditation, a lifestyle. When you dance, you go to places you never thought could be explored right there in your home or your studio. It is a way of expression through movement a way to show how you feel or tell a story without using one single word; just the art of your body and movement! It is amazing the lines you can create! Dancing is basically an alternate reality in which the possibilities are endless! 

I hope you all enjoyed hearing the different perspectives on the magicalness (that is a word now) of dance! Tomorrow I will be posting the answers for question #2!

If anyone needs me, remember I am always a comment or email away! jaythedancer23@gmail.com

XOXO❤️