Dance, as a vocation or avocation, requires dedication, discipline, and other difficult decisions. Dancers may face choices that can impact their immediate lives and long-term development as performers and people. “Students are left principally to their own devices to figure out what dancing is all about,” states Teri Loren, author of The Dancer’s Companion: The Indispensable Guide to Getting the Most of Dance Classes.

There has been a gradual change in the attitudes of dance instructors to a more holistic approach to teaching and artistic development. Because of the tremendous commitment that is required of dancers, it is important that they have an understanding of why they participate, the benefits and costs of dance, and fully appreciation the ramifications of the decisions they will make during the course of their dance participation. You, as teachers, play a significant role in this process. You can provide your dancers with experience, perspective, and an objective view of the choices they will make and how the decisions will affect their dance and their lives.

By creating a dialogue with your dancers and facilitating group discussions to share their outlooks and experiences about dance, they will be able to make more informed and constructive decisions. “The dance performance educator will use a pedagogical triangle consisting of education through dance, knowledge of ourselves, and preparation for the future,” suggests Luke Kahlich, a former director of dance at Kansas State University.

The impact that you have on this process is especially important because dancers may not have the expertise and maturity to consider the future impact of their current decisions. Also, young dancers (and young people in general) often have an air of invulnerability that causes them to believe that they are immune to harm, thus underestimating the effect that their decisions may have on them later in life.

This process should be ongoing throughout dancers’ careers so that they are provided with continual exposure to new, perspectives, issues, options, and choices that arise in their dance and personal lives. These continuing opportunities for self-examination and feedback from others can assist dancers in actively and beneficially directing themselves toward their goals both within and outside of dance.

In beginning this dialogue, you can help your dancers understand why they dance by asking them what they love about dance. Common responses we have heard include the artistic expression, the discipline, the satisfaction of being highly skilled, and the joy of performing. You can then ask what your dancers dancers dislike about dance. Typical comments we hear include lack of a social life, demands of dance training, managing body weight, and difficulties keeping up with school work. This process helps dancers to articulate and understand why they dance, what they get out of it, and how it might limit them. Our experience in working with young dancers is that, despite the difficult aspects of dance, few would ever choose to leave dance voluntarily. The resonance of their responses demonstrates the power of dance for them and with this information, they can more clearly understand the role of dance in their lives. “If you dance a great deal you’ll wonder why you put up with the physical demands at all. But in the end you’ll find that you love dancing more than you hate the minor discomforts,” echoes Teri Loren.

The Tough Choices

You can help your dancers identify choices they will have to make as they develop, and how those decisions will affect them as dancers and people. There are four primary decision areas of frequent concern in dance. First, dancers must decide the importance of education and its influence on their dance participation. For dancers who aspire to professional careers, there is the temptation to drop out of school to pursue a dance career full time. This decision has short-term benefits because it allows dancers to devote all of their time to mastering their craft. However, the long-term implications are meaningful, particularly considering the fact that most dance careers do not last much past 35 years of age. Without an education, there are few options available to retired dancers.

For other young dancers who simply participate in dance for the intrinsic rewards it provides, you can show them how dance can be a medium by which they can further their education within the arts and use dance to achieve their life goals. You can inform them about college dance programs and have accessible information from various universities describing the types of programs that are available. In addition, for the aspiring dancer, there are college dance programs, often in collaboration with a dance school and company, that are designed to prepare dancers for a career as a performer and, at the same time, provides them with a college education.

Second, dancers must decide about the use of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs. As dancers develop, there can be considerable exposure to these substances including and beyond those found in high schools. Dancers begin to use them for a variety of reasons such as to manage body weight, handle stress, or simply because it is available and their social group uses it. This decision can have some short-lived and largely illusory psychological, social, and physical benefits such as making the dancers feel better, being more accepted by their peer group, and helping to maintain their weight. At the same time, this usage begins to take an immediate toll on dancers psychologically and physically and, with long-term use, can become addictive and life-threatening. Talking about the dangers of substance abuse in an open and honest manner, and having informational materials available, particularly if it is directly related to dance, is a valuable way positively impact the decisions dancers make in this area. “They [weight control drugs] keep me awake, so then I need sleeping pills. Both kinds have turned out to be addictive. Wish someone had warned me,” laments Paul Taylor.

Third, there is considerable social and self-imposed pressure for female dancers to maintain an “ideal” weight and appearance. Such pressure can lead to immediate physical problems such as eating disorders (e.g., anorexia and bulimia) and developmental delays in addition to long-term physical difficulties such as osteoporosis. You can help dancers understand and manage their eating habits in a healthful way and still maintain a dancer’s line. This can be accomplished with education about nutrition and eating disorders, and discussions about their experiences and feelings related to eating and body image. Additionally, there appears to be a movement among some companies to expand the “acceptable” body type for female dancers, for example, the companies of Mark Morris and David Parsons. This more flexible attitude appears to be finding its way down to smaller companies and school

Fourth, dancers must consider the long-term effects of the intense physical demands that they place on their bodies. Injuries that range from minor (e.g., muscle pulls and strains) to major (e.g., torn ligaments and tendons), and which are almost inevitable, can affect dancers immediately and in the long run. Short-term, these injuries can slow dance progress and cause significant discomfort. Additionally, there is often considerable pressure, either self-imposed or from others, that pushes dancers to return from an injury before they are fully healed and physically prepared. Thus, a chain of recurring injuries can be devastating to a dancer’s development. Long-term, these injuries can leave dancers at the conclusion of their careers with varying degrees of disability that can limit their functioning throughout their lives. It is essential that dancers learn to rest, care for, and rehabilitate injuries that they experience.

Making Good Decisions

Making good decisions is a skill that develops with guidance and experience. The most basic thing you can communicate to dancers about making decisions is the distinction between acting on impulse, because it feels good, is socially cool, or it brings some immediate gain, and considering options, thus thoughtfully weighing the short-term benefits and costs with the long-term ramifications and making a good decision based on these deliberations. I have listed below some recommendations that you can provide to your dancers to help them make good decisions for immediate and future benefits.

1. Don’t let others force you into a bad decision.
2. Don’t make a decision based only on short-term benefits.
3. Don’t make a decision you may regret later on.
4. Do give yourself time to make a decision.
5. Do step back and consider the impact of your decision short- and long-term.
6. Do get feedback from people you trust, for example, parents and instructors.
7. Do make a decision that is best for you in the long run.

Required Reading

Regardless of whether your dancers are pursuing a professional career or want to use dance as a vehicle for personal growth or expression, perhaps the most powerful examples of the types of decisions that dancers may have to make in their dance involvement and the impact those decisions can have on their lives are described in two books: Holding on to the Air by Suzanne Farrell and Dancing on my Grave by Gelsey Kirkland. These books, particularly impactful for female dancers, describe in sometimes painful detail the decisions that these two ballet superstars made, and the positive and negative effects those decisions had on them. The titles alone illustrate the choices that these two prima ballerinas made and how they view those decisions and their effects on their careers and lives. Whatever level of dance to which your dancers aspire, the experiences of these two dancers, the decisions they made, and the impact dance had on their lives are meaningful lessons that can be applied to dance or life in general.

First Law of Decision Making

In all of the decisions that dancers will have to make in their dance participation and lives outside of dance, you should impress upon them our First Law of Decision Making. Ultimately, when dancers must make difficult decisions, when they have weighed their options and considered the immediate and future benefits and costs, the final litmus test of the decision can be reduced to one simple rule: Nothing is worth your happiness, health, sanity, or love of your self.