The Dancing profession: Not for lazy bones...

I´ve danced and been into sports all my life. Coming from a peasant family who worked hard in the fields from sunrise to sunset, having a competition athlete as a father and being raised by a hyperactive mother who, until now, cannot see anyone sitting still without asking this person "what´s wrong with you?" it is just normal to get my body moving constantly.

But, suddenly, an extra appreciation for DANCERS - myself included :) - revisited me unannounced. As a PROFESSIONAL DANCER who LIVES exclusively from her/his work, you cannot offer yourself the luxury of laziness. Lazy bones and dancing don´t go together as the demands are permanent and multi-faceted.

As a PROFESSIONAL DANCER you have to be an ATHLETE who keeps his/her instrument/body always fit, healthy and ready for ACTION, an ARTIST who keeps learning and improving skills, ability to CREATE new and surprising material, an ACTOR who uses his/her own feelings and internal life as fuel for the dance, an ARCHITECT which projects shapes and buildings on the floor, stage, space, an IMAGINATION freak who is constantly searching for INSPIRATION everywhere, an astute and self confident business person who knows how to promote herself and share her/his work with others in a globalized world where quantity doesn´t always mean QUALITY.

Your self confidence must be fed on a daily basis, your ability to deal with criticism - fair and unfair- must be on duty and your skin must be sensitive but thick. Your heart must be opened and vulnerable but your mind has to be STRONG as a 700 year old irish oak tree in order to receive the blows any successful person receives throughout his/her career. 

Not for sissies, that´s for sure.

Your WHOLE BEING is used in DANCE. All that you are is your instrument. No part of yourself is spared and no time can be used to sit on your ass and rest past achievements. It is an endless line of workouts, training, study, search that could make  any Hercules drop dead within a month or two. 

Uff...I get exhausted only by thinking about it.

What keeps us MOVING in all directions is, it seems to me, the PASSION for DANCE. You REALLY need to love it with all your might, otherwise you´re out of the game in no time.