What are you doing?

Yes, I am talking to you.  What are you doing?  What are you doing right now to prepare for "competition season"?

I have made a few trips all over the country the past few months and been inside several studios as they are "preparing" for the year.  Preparations include-choreography, costumes, classes, conditioning, cleaning, rehearsing.  But what is all this preparation for?

What are you working so hard for?  What is your goal for the upcoming season?  What are you working so hard to accomplish?   What are you competing for this year?  What is the point to all the hours and hours of work? I believe that answering these questions is the FIRST part to preparing.  I am pretty sure the answer is NOT: 

“To receive a plastic trophy and new pin for my jacket”

(insert laughter) Well, what is the answer?   I truly believe that the only person you are competing with when you go to competition is yourself.  That's right, YOURSELF.  If the goal was to do all this hard work just to beat Suzie Smith from the studio down the street then, you are working way too hard for such a petty goal.  

Whether you win or lose is NOT the end goal.  It is whether you did better than you did last time.  It is about how you have improved and where you stand this year compared to last year.  It is about the hard work you have put in and what results the work produces.  THAT IS IT!  

Competition is subjective, it's opinion.  The only thing that you can be sure of is that you are putting out the very best version of yourself, your technique, your choreography, your showmanship.  Once you have delivered the best you can do, your score and your place now becomes a wonderful reflection of how hard you have worked.  So, let me ask you again-

“What is your goal? What are you doing?”

What are you working so hard to get better at this year?  What improvements are you hoping for?  What are you doing all this hard work for?  What are you doing to make the changes in order to be better than you were last year?  Are you successfully preparing yourself to be better than yourself this year?

At the end of the day you are doing this for you and your studio to be the best you can be.  Every year you are working to improve and be stronger than you were the year before.  Trust me when I tell you that the only competition you have at competition is YOU.

I can not wait to see all your hard work this year.  I have seen and heard a lot of awesome preparations happening now.  Just remember all this hard work will pay off and it is all for you.

Take Care of You, Dancers!

Liz