Motivation

As much as we love our dance art, the fact remains that the level of discipline & practice required in order to attain a high level of mastery can sometimes become tiresome, painful, daunting & uninteresting. Needless to say, maintaining high levels of motivation is a challenge that all dancers face at one time or another.

Motivation is at the very root of our personal relationship with dance. It’s what initially sets our journey through dance into motion & will always influences dimensions of our training & performance successes. The first step towards cultivating high motivation is to first get clear on what our dance goals are & then the develop a useful strategy for achieving them.

Defining your goals

Knowing what motivates you to dance will enable you to gain the most satisfying results with your experiences. For instance are you a hobbyist who enjoys dancing for fun or fitness? Do you strive to become a pro? Are you are a career dancer with big performance ambitions? Are your interests in mastering the artistry of dance? Do you love sharing your passion for dance with others & aspire to become a great teacher? Asking yourself questions along these lines will enable you to define your goals & with clarity comes enthusiasm.  I’m always more excited & focused with my training & preparations when I know what my focus is and that my efforts & energy are flowing towards the achievement of a particular goal. It’s in the knowing of what your dance goals are that will stimulate motivation & keep your focus on achieving the intended results. Of course your goals may shift & change as you grow through dance. Therefore it’s a great idea to keep a dance journal so that you can record your goals & insights regarding your processes along the way.

Creating a strategy

Motivation is a key to each dancer’s success. The results you experience with your dance goals will exactly match the quality of time, energy & focus you are motivated to put towards them. Strategies for maintaining motivation begin with identifying your strengths & weaknesses so that you can establish clear training objectives. This is an important step because your training is what prepares you for your larger, longer term goals.

The 4 training areas to consider are physical (stamina, flexibility), mental (confidence, focus) technical (isolations, layering) & lifestyle (diet, sleep, recreation). Work toward establishing training goals & implementing training methods that will enable you to achieve optimum results with your short & long terms goals. Record them in your dance journal so you can keep track of progress along the way.

Experiencing results

Being in the mind set of constant improvement as your measure of success will bring even more lasting rewards & results to you than the accomplishment of the goals themselves. In focusing on manifesting the higher qualities that you associate with your goals you will be sure to attain them in many joyful ways.