Is it ever too late to start dance? - Dance Saturday
Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,
I read an article on Dance Plug recently by a lady called Chelsea Hupalowsky, where she discussed the topic of retirement in dance. In her article, Chelsea said that whilst dance is a very short-lived career, the idea that once someone has reached the age of 25 years old they should quit dance all together, has become a rather outdated way of thinking. Personally, I couldn't agree more. Retirement in dance is a difficult topic to cover because as dancers, there will be a time in our lives where we will reach our peak performance, where we nail every show that we do and we will enjoy everything that we do, but then after that, naturally, we will also perhaps start to lose our physical capabilities because that's just what comes with age. However, I still firmly believe that some dancers could still continue their careers for much longer, if they respect their bodies a bit more and learn to adapt their movement to their changing physicality. As Chelsea quite rightly pointed out in her article, this isn't anything that is particularly new. There have been plenty of famous professional dancers who have made the decision to dance for as long as possible - Fred Astaire being a dancer who only finished his career at the age of 70 years old. So why has it become the norm to say that a dancer should retire by the age of 25? If Eddie the Eagle could learn how to ski jump in his early 20s and still make it to the Winter Olympics, why can't a dancer choose to live out their career a bit longer? Sure, as you mature and become an adult, there are more responsibilities and commitments: bills, rent, marriage, children, and dancing alone can make it difficult to help finance all those things. However, if it's something that someone truly wishes to pursue and work hard for, it's not anyone else's responsibility to tell them to do otherwise. This I why, I don't think it's too late to start dance. Maybe becoming a professional dancer when you're an adult is a bit difficult because you haven't spent the time in your youth to develop your muscles and open up your joints, which are things that are needed to pull off more challenging work. However, anyone can practice things and get better and become good at what they do, so who knows how far you'll get with perseverance. If anything, dancing amongst adults is something that we should be encouraging. Not only is it a great way to keep healthy, it's also a great way to socialise and exercise in a stress free manner and develop a community of people who have a passion for a similar hobby. We need people with more life experience in the dance industry in order to bring a different narrative to the table. You just got to learn how to respect your body more when you're older, warm up and not push yourself too far. But it's never too late to start dance.
What do you think? Is it ever too late to start dance? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be sure to reply to them. I ♡ hearing from you!
Comments
Post a Comment
Thanks for leaving your comments! I really enjoy reading your positive and constructive messages. They really make my day! 💜