I am a dancer

"I am a dancer”. How those words ring with passion and pride! They are the summation of hard-won hopes and dreams, proof of your special gifts. They hint at exoticism, at glamour – of your being a little different, distinctive, from the rest. They define your special place in the world, they are the definition of your very self. It is a phrase not many can genuinely claim as their own.

“I am a dancer”. We often speak of how dance is inseparable from our identity. But if that is the case, what happens when you can’t be a dancer?

Think of it this way: Yes, you are a dancer, but you are also a thinker, creator, son or daughter, a friend, you have a brain and a heart, you are a multi-faceted human being with a thousand and one potentialities. You are a dancer, but that is just one part of who you are.

I once heard a wise person say: “This is what I do, it is not what I am.”

Those words can be hard to accept. Being a dancer is so all-consuming. For most of Dance Australia’s readers, being a dancer means the exhilaration of performing. But there are many other ways you can still be involved with dance, when you, for whatever reason, aren’t dancing.

Thinking of dance as “what you do” rather than “what you are” makes you step outside yourself, where before you were immersed within yourself. It helps you see those other parts of your being that are perhaps unformed, untapped, that being a dancer led you to ignore. You may find yourself to be a more complex, multiskilled individual then you had ever suspected.

Thinking of dance as something you do, rather than what you are, can open your eyes to all the aspects that go into doing it, and making it possible for dance to be done. It helps you see that the performance is just one component in a large field encompassing many different activities, often extremely creatively satisfying.

With that perspective in mind, we have compiled a Careers Special in October/November issue that is full of inspiring examples of careers and occupations that keep you in touch with your passion. Don’t miss out! Buy the new issue at your favourite magazine retailer or subscribe here, or purchase an online copy via the Dance Australia app.

- KAREN VAN ULZEN