Dealing With Regrets- dancing (1 Viewer)

[balin.kid]

Have you ever had something you wish you had done, started or continued with through your years? And if so do you just keep going through life wondering what if or does the feeling eventually go away?

I love dancing with a passion and without being modest I am good at it but i fell out of it when I started boarding school in yr 9 due to the lack of encouraging schools. It is all I think about now and I need to know if that is the end for me as I am about to finish yr 12. I used to get dancer of the year (for street and jazz) every year and I'd never felt happier then I did on a a stage. I see all my little cousins going to ballet from the age of five and I can't help wondering why didn't my parents get me into that? I would have been great and I would have loved it... I feel bad for blaming them but why didn't they when everyone else around me was?

Is it too late or is there somewhere to go to regain my confidence in dance and push it to the limit? I could do great things I just know I could.

 

[*Minka*]

Gymnastics.

More a case of not really having the chance though. I loved watching the 1992 Olympics, but there was nowhere really in Croatia at the time where I could have done it, especially with the situation there at the time. It was the same when we were living in Belgrade for a few months. By the time I had moved to Australia and settled here, I was too old- you have to start when you are quite young, not when you are 10.

 

[Ingoesout]

Ballet, Piano and TKD.

I used to be ace at ballet, one day I was just in a shit mood though and didn't feel like going, I'd pissed my mum off that day and she said "If you don't go today then I won't let you go ever again"... I didn't go, and about half an hour afterwards i kindof realised what i'd done. I asked my mum to drive me, she said no, I ran to the end of the street and tried to scab a lift...
I totally blame my mum for my quitting of ballet, i was 14, I had noone to drive me, she was on a power trip. I hate her for it. I really mean HATE her. There was no reason for it.

With piano i used to own an old organ, got pretty ok at it, and had some kindof natural ability. At school i was fucking around on the piano in assembly hall and the music teacher saw this. She gave me some lessons on the piano at lunch and said it was defiately something i should persue. I kept telling mum and dad i wanted a piano and lessons. They said we'll buy a keyboard first. For one weekend we went around looking for a keyboard, and i couldn't make up my mind which one i wanted, so they never got me one, they never organised lessons. I was young i didn't know how the fuck one went about buying keyboard and organising lessons. They should have encouraged me.
Im bitter and twisted about it in so many ways.

TKD, my fault. I went, was good, did alot of comp, HSC came about, I quit, and now i just feel too unfit to go back.

 

[glitterfairy]

I'm kinda in the same boat but not (in the sense I'm still doing what I love). I had the chance to go dance full-time for a year after my HSC, but I had to choose between that and total financial emancipation from family, or staying in Sydney and going to Uni, still taking classes on the side. (you can see by my sig that I went to uni - I do love dance, but whole whole moving out by myself with almost no money was just too risky, fact aside the industry itself is unstable and difficult to get into)

I think a lot of us are lucky in the sense that unless we are trying to reach professional or competitive level in something physically taxing (dancing, gymnastics), it's never too late to go back! Of course it's going to be hard getting back to the level of fitness, but realistically if you work hard it may only be 6 months of dying, then you'll be back So FireFlower and Ingouesout, you have not reached the end of your road, you've just stopped for a bit - but there's nothing stopping you from continuing! Whilst your stamina may not be what it once was your body memory will still be there, and you will fly through the beginner levels - trust me

I'm about to try and go back to jazz classes this year myself. I'm not looking forward to my first few classes... I KNOW my ego will be bruised and battered from here to Timbucktoo. But I want to go back badly!



balin.kid, same goes for you. It is not too late to get back! I don't know whether you are trying to achieve professional level (looking at your post, I can't be sure but don't think so?) but even if you were, if you had the talent it would be possible to train hard for a few years after your HSC, maybe do a full time course and then enter the industry. As for just going back to dance, that is very, very possible Where are you going to live after your HSC, and what dance styles are you most interested in? There are some very, very good dance schools around, if we know where you're located we can tell you where the reputable dance schools are around you.


On an end note:

Have you ever had something you wish you had done, started or continued with through your years? And if so do you just keep going through life wondering what if or does the feeling eventually go away?

Since being at uni it feels like my love for dance has waned, but when I sit back and think about it, I really think I love it more than life itself.

Most of the dancers I know who "give it up" for any other reason than "I just got bored of it" (injury, life circumstances etc) end up depressed, and it is very sad that some of them feel they can never return. Those that do return often feel a bit of frustration at the beginning as they refresh the techniques and discipline, but soon after are back in form (either totally or relatively, depending on age and dedication) and very happy

I've worked alongside older dancers who may not neccessarily have given up singing/acting/dancing, but wish they had taken more opportunities with it when younger... even decades later the desire to keep going (or even regret) hasn't gone yet, so us youngun's should learn from this Unless it really, really is the end of the road, you don't have to stop... and even if it is towards the end of the road, don't forget that you can apply the skills you already have to other fields! Gymnastics for example, if you are strong and flexible, could be applied to circus arts

 

[hannahxxx]

Ballet, Piano and TKD.

Lol. An EXACT replica of my situation. But because I'm working 24/7 and starting a double degree in feb, I have to practice my piano pieces at 11.30 at night-it's when I get home from work sometimes, and I'm too busy otherwise(I'm doing 7th grade piano, so the workload's getting heavier). Oh and creative writing-i did an ext 2 major work this year and I reckon I'll keep working on creative stuff, regardless of the fact that I'm not doing it at uni.

But in reply to the threadmaker: what you're feeling is universal-we ALL have regrets. As we get older we have to CHOOSE a path-we must do this to progress-and there will always be paths we didn't take.

Conversely (lol) you've gotta realise that where there's a will, there's a way. There's been famous economists and lawyers who made a mark as novelists, sacrificing sleep or using any time they weren't working to facilitate their literary obsessions. You've gotta realise that you weren't just destined for ONE career path-you have the ability to go through MANY.

You may think there's not enough hours in the day to facilitate your love of ballet, but I'd say that by making a few sacrifices( e.g. television time or an hour of sleep- doctors admit that 8hrs of sleep is often is too much for some people people) you'll be able to get back into it.I know a guy who is an international ballroom dancer who did 30hrs of training p/w during the hsc and still did well academically. He traveled a lot during the year-but because he took his work with him and was focussed his marks didn't suffer.

What you're proposing is very doable-there might be a huge number of difficulties but if your serious about it, these will become insignificant in comparison to having to give up something you feel passionate about. The most rewarding things in life are those that take the most hard work(sorry about the corny aphorism but it's true).

 

[balin.kid]

Thanks heaps Glitterfairy and Hannah lol that has kinda pushed me one step further, I would be more then happy to put in all hours of the day to improve and regain my confidence in dancing. I do however think it would not b great where I am at the moment..
I am hoping to get into batemeans bay small uni to do nursing but I am just waiting to get out of my boadring school or should I say jail? lol bit dramatic but it is what it feels like when you get older. Glitterfairy if it is at all possible I would love to know of some dance schools but would actually not mind spending a bit more to get private lessons to begin with until i regain my confidnece and in turn advise maybe you shoulld do the same as I know the fear of having your ego battered and bruised as you say. I would give up school any day to dance as much as i could and I'm actualy doing quite well
thanks again for the advice

 

[glitterfairy]

hahaha

See, I've done the ego-bashing thing a number of times, so I'm cool with going back to it (I do a number of other equally crazy things... my friends think I'm nuts). I'm also pretty competitive so being in a group class situation actually works out better for me

*looks up Batemans Bay* ooh you're far south, aren't you? I don't really know of many studios in your area, but I will search for you! *googles*

Salsa (Salsa is FUN)
Hanging Rock
0415 030 189

Stepz South Coast Dance Academy (this looks more like your regular dance studio)
1 Hughes St Batemans Bay
4472 9855
from http://www.eurobodallabiz.com.au/edubay.htm

Middle Eastern Dance (Belly Dancing) (I actually really like bellydance, veil work is beautiful and if you love rhythm work, you will adore zills)
Eurobodalla Adult Ed Centre
4472 9202
www.eaec.edu.au
from http://www.southeasttrainingproviders.org/recreation.html



Enjoy! May you be dancing soon once again!