Ballet Dancer: Two tips beyond the tips of your toes
If you are a ballet dancer, or if you’ve ever studied ballet, you know the feeling that comes over you when you’re up “en pointe,” and you feel as if the sky’s the limit. The energy swooshes up inside of you, and you’re pulled up, elevated, as poised as can be. You’re almost frozen in time … breaking free of earth’s gravity and ascending to greater heights. Whether you’re executing an endlessly lengthened, glorious arabesque, or you’ve managed to stay up on your toes long enough to perform a series of pirouettes and fouettes, that sensation of height, energy, and control is like no other. And of course, balance is one of the key elements that helped get you there! I see a lot of parallels between life and dance, probably because of my own history as a ballet dancer. I’ve learned that just as balance is crucial in dance, it is also vitally important in life. Every day is a balancing act! How do we achieve balance? In my work as a psychotherapist, when I’m in session with dancers, musicians, actors, and other types of artists, a theme regularly emerges: artists often struggle as they work tirelessly to perfect the artistic integrity of their craft. It is very easy to get caught up in that one piece, that one performance, and focus can significantly narrow to achieve a masterful outcome. This type of dedication, discipline, and concentration is required. It is a given, and necessary for artists. But what about the rest of your life? Balance is key. Balance is what can actually help you to excel artistically. Here are two tips that may help you achieve balance in other areas of your life, beyond the tips of your toes: 1. Pay attention to your relationships Be sure to maintain contact with your loved ones. It can be very easy to become isolated when you’re so hard at work on your artistic ventures. Try your best to maintain contact with at least one close friend or family member in your social support network on a daily basis, if possible, to prevent increased isolation and to combat potential depressive symptoms. I know, I know … schedules and rehearsing can all get a bit overwhelming, and it feels like there is no time for anything else. But with constant developments in social media and other forms of communications technology, there’s really no excuse to not be connected: our loved ones are closer to us than ever before, often just a click or tap away. Stay in touch with the outside world! 2. Increase your self-care efforts Burnout as a result of stress is common, and so is exhaustion. Don’t let it wipe you out! Instead, take control. Be sure to replenish yourself by getting enough sleep, and by eating healthy, balanced meals. Relaxation techniques, meditation, visualization, and breathing exercises can also help you to secure your equilibrium. If you’re experiencing physical pain, don’t let it go unchecked. We’re human, and injuries happen. Sometimes, we’re prone to rationalizing to ourselves instead of listening to our bodies, because we want to keep going out of fear that our role will be given away, or that another opportunity won’t arise for us in the future. Please don’t succumb to this thinking! It’s much better to figure out what is going on with your body than to push through and possibly do additional harm. Injuries are among the most common pitfalls in a dancer’s life, so please be sure to get any unusual aches and pains looked at closely by a doctor. Prevention is...
Read MoreA Thoughtful Dance: Mind-Body Synchronization
There are so many facets that represent who we are as human beings: our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and everything in between. Like a well-oiled machine, our minds and bodies work in tandem to create a certain energy and flow, and these processes influence the ways we present ourselves to the world. Are you in tune with it all? Think about a live orchestra playing beautiful music. At first, it may sound uniform, like a harmonious blend of something singular. Just a single piece of music. But if we look further at this example, it becomes apparent that there are numerous components that comprise the whole of what we experience as being the music. The violins, flutes, cellos, harp, etc. The written piece of music, the notes on the page. The musicians themselves executing the delivery of the piece through their physical bodies, using their very own breath and fingertips to deliver the music to the audience. These individual systems fuse together to become one: they are parts of a whole system. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to see a live orchestra playing music, you can witness the physical evidence of mind-body synchronicity taking place. Serious musicians no doubt connect to their music, and literally feel its presence in their bodies. As an audience member, you can see their movements as proof of their relationship to the music. They may close their eyes in response to emotions the music evokes within them, or they may sway ever so slightly, or even dramatically, in their chairs. The conductor’s physical presence empowers the orchestra to play with utmost passion and precision. Their mental conceptualization, delivered via physical ability, results in non-verbal, emotional expression. Without these parts fusing together, the music you hear can’t be performed at its most transcendent. Elaborating further, let’s pretend that there are dancers who are going to perform to the live orchestra’s musical accompaniment. Without the support of the orchestra, the dancers will have a very difficult time performing the choreography of the piece. They need the orchestra to deliver their part by playing the music, so that they can then execute both a physical and emotional response in telling a story to the audience with their bodies. This interrelatedness is crucial to the performance, and highlights exactly how being in tune with the many systems within yourself, and perhaps even outside of yourself, can lead to a – dare I say it – a standing ovation. The end product is something to be proud of, and something to celebrate. I like to use this example of separate forms of expression coming together (music and dancing) to highlight how the blending of our mental, physical, and emotional selves is vital to the development of our well-being. Now, I’m not saying that you need to be a musician or dancer to understand the gist of this concept. What I’m highlighting here is that functioning at your very best, in any capacity, requires paying attention to the parts of yourself that comprise who you are, including mental, physical, and emotional aspects. For instance, if you ignore your ”physical” aspect and hardly ever exercise, you might be increasing your risk for heart disease or obesity. If you neglect your “mental” aspect, you might be left feeling bored, unchallenged, and stuck in a rut at work. If you brush aside your “emotional” aspect, you may notice that interpersonal issues are surfacing, and you might succumb more readily to negative moods and depression. Connecting with, utilizing, and paying attention to the facets that make us who we are, can assist in creating...
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