Twyla Tharp, world-famous choreographer, in her book The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it For Life shares an important ingredient of her method in the following words:

I begin each day of my life with a ritual… First steps are hard… It’s vital to establish some rituals-automatic but decisive patterns of behavior- at the beginning of the creative process, when you are most at peril of turning back, chickening out, giving up, or going the wrong way…”

Getting started is often the hardest part of doing something. Each of us needs to find an intuitive way to overcome the natural human tendency towards inertia. For dancers, the ritual of morning class is the automatic beginning to each and every day. But any creative endeavor requires first steps.

When something is new, it is full of unknowns. Embarking into unchartered territory is uncomfortable; we are literally making it all up as we go along. Step by step, moment by moment, we are feeling our way. But Tharp offers us a little clue for how to get going.

How much easier it is to begin with something familiar first. We get up, we do that first familiar thing, and we are already moving, already on the go. From there, it’s simply a matter of continuing to move forward. Whether your morning ritual is a cup of coffee, a run in the park, or chanting naked, embrace it. Use it in your favor. Get up, get going. Whatever your ritual is, it’s your next step forward.

Twyla Tharp’s book is a must-have for any creative person. Click here to read about it:

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life

Becoming a great dancer takes a huge amount of work, discipline, dedication and sacrifice. However, there is one important factor that separates the really good dancers from the truly great dancers: passion. To be passionate about something means to love that thing with endless enthusiasm, and every drop of juice in your heart. While it isn’t something anyone can touch, it is something they can feel. When passion enters a room, it’s contagious… and palpable. It’s the thing that makes everyone’s heart beat just a little bit quicker.

While passion is exciting to others, it’s all the more important to you as a dancer. Passion is the thing that brought you to dance in the first place. Passion is the thing that will get you out of bed in the morning, and keeps you going on those grey days. If you’ve lost that loving feeling, then it may be time to do some thinking and visioning to reconnect. Ask yourself the following for some clues:

• What do I love about my life right now?
• What do I love about dance?
• What is my favorite part of being a dancer?
• What is my vision of the future?

Don’t hold back or censor yourself in any way as you answer these questions. It’s important to allow yourself to dream big, and reconnect with love for dance and your life as a dancer. After all, everything begins as an idea first. Once you get the ideas rolling, then begin to take steps.

Careful study of outstanding dancers will show you that every one of them was passionate about being a dancer. Dance is not an easy career, but if you love what you do, you can overcome any odds.

An inspirational video of Polina Semionova, Principal with the Berlin State Opera, one of the youngest dancers to achieve this particular kind of recognition:

Discipline is a huge part of every dancer’s success. One dictionary definition states that discipline is orderly, prescribed conduct, or an orderly pattern of behavior. It’s what’s known as self-control. Most things we do demand that we utilize self-control in our active, diligent participation. Work, school, even recreational pursuits move ahead when discipline comes into play.

Definitions are all very well and good, but what does it mean to be disciplined? It means showing up regularly. We’ve all heard the old adage that practice makes perfect. It wouldn’t be an old adage unless there was some truth to it. Consistently working at a thing means improvement and growth will occur. Discipline is what drives us to stay consistent.

Discipline requires developing an unwavering level of dedication. It doesn’t allow for excuses (aside from obvious things like vomit or fire), or wimping out. In a way, discipline is the opposite of insanity: by doing the same things over and over, you CAN expect different results.

Discipline is closely linked to intent. Intention lays the roadmap; discipline is what drives the bus. Setting intentions creates a concrete plan of action. Discipline drives us to stick with the original intention and succeed.

Discipline is power. Make it yours, and you will get wherever you wish to go.

There are days when every dancer needs a little helpful advice. There are other days when it’s very difficult to keep your chin up. Advice and support are within reach, in Put Your Best Foot Forward, an inspirational book written by one of the master teachers of the School of American Ballet. Crisp, colorful photographs of young dancers and swirly letters illustrate the text.

Practical advice for young dancers helps dance technique and inner well-being. Becoming a swan, for example, means moving gracefully, keeping the neck long, but it also means not letting your feathers get ruffled.

Browsing the pages is a fun journey, and a helpful part of the path for any young dancer.

Ironically, decades after ending my career as a professional ballet dancer, I am more aware of my body than ever. It sounds impossible to believe, doesn’t it? I only wish I had discovered yoga earlier, before all those years I was a dancer with no real relationship with my body because I didn’t know how to live in it fully. By its very nature, dance forces dancers to stay focused, but it’s too easy to keep the focus narrowed to a pinpoint, and miss out on other important elements of life. But dancers are human first, and it serves us to explore other avenues that may seem completely unrelated to dance, but aid in our evolution as both dancers and people. For me, and lots of other dancers, yoga is one of those things.

Deep breathing is one of the primary tools that a yoga practice provides. Although breathing is involuntary, there is breathing and there is b-r-e-a-t-h-i-n-g. Ancient yogic scriptures state that we have only so many breaths in a given lifetime, so it follows that extending each one of them will prolong existence. Even more importantly, deep, full breaths mean more oxygen to the body and therefore more power to every we move we make.

Heightened awareness of every single cell of the body is another incredible benefit of yoga. Proper placement is key in all yoga poses, just as it is in dance. But specific tips, such as aligning or stacking bones and joints actually teach us to create strength in all postures by building from a firm foundation. Each movement is dynamically conscious; breathing is linked with alignment. Check points for each pose are verbally offered throughout class and practitioners conduct an interior inspection to make sure all points are lined up where they need to be. Suddenly you know exactly where your little toe on your right foot ought to be, or if the joint between your thumb and first fingers really is pressed firmly into the floor. It’s almost as if we reclaim every last remote corner of the body, one cell at a time. It is an entirely new level of awareness of the body’s moving parts.

But the most valuable piece that yoga provides is peace of mind. Who couldn’t use a little bit more of that? Breathing in a deep and controlled manner, moving the body gently and consciously, produces this lovely, blissful effect. By keeping the mind focused on only two things (breath and conscious movement), it lets go of all other things. Laundry lists, chores, problems, anxieties or concerns all fall by the wayside for that blissful hour or so of class time. Each yoga class is a chance to go on a mini-retreat inside of ourselves and just be.

The challenge, of course, is to take everything that you’ve learned out into the world with you. Whether you are a dancer or not, a regular yoga practice provides the tools to deal with the challenges that everyone faces from time to time. This body, this lifetime, this moment can be all the more vibrant when met with true awareness.

Author: Marilyn Nelson illustrator: Susan Kuklin
Title: Beautiful Ballerina
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 2009
Ages: 4-8
ISBN: 9780545089203

Written by Newberry Honor winner Marilyn Nelson, Beautiful Ballerina is a visual and lyrical celebration of ballerinas. Every page of Nelson’s flowing poetry is accompanied by bright, colorful photographs of young ballerinas from the Dance Theater of Harlem’s school. Tiny ballerinas stretch, point their toes, and mimic the older ballerinas as they fly through the air in grand jetes or balance en point. Every step captured by the camera was professionally choreographed by Endalyn Taylor, the Director of Dance Theater of Harlem. Words and poses are equally inspiring for a variety of readers, from young dancers to adult aficionados.

Life is a dynamic process. Things move and change constantly, and we do the same. Every so often along the way we are bound to trip up and make… a mistake. For some, the thought of making a mistake brings up a lot of fear: fear of looking bad or ridiculous, fear of being noticed, or fear of losing self-esteem. However, ask any group of people if anyone among them has never made a mistake in their life, and the answer will be a resounding “no”. But maybe, just maybe, they serve a purpose.

We can count on making mistakes in life, and plenty of them. But if no one is immune, then they must serve some purpose. They are learning tools. It can even be argued that they are necessary to success and growth. Each mistake we make is an opportunity to evolve. If we are willing to spend some time thinking about making changes to improve things in the next round, we will come out ahead.

Dance classes or classes of any sort are the place to experiment and try new things without fear of failure. If there is any good place to fall on your face, this is it. GO ahead, make the mistake, and then try, try again. Chances are that you won’t need 10,000 tries to get it right, like Thomas Edison did while inventing the lightbulb.

Even if you do fall on your face, it’s a chance to get up and try again. A steady pace wins the race. And really, we’re all in it together.

If you love the Beatles and ballet, then this slice of news should bring a smile to your face: Paul McCartney, ex-Beatles band member, has just been commissioned to write music for a ballet. Details are a secret at this point; McCartney only said, “I don’t know much about it,” but he is very excited to try something new and different. One has to wonder what the costumes will look like, and who the lucky dancers will be…

Looking around these days it seems like everyone (and their dog) (literally) is wearing a tutu. Age doesn’t matter; whether young or old, there’s a tutu somewhere out there with your name on it. No longer reserved for costumes or childhood dress up props, tutus are everywhere.

Those who are looking for tiny tutus can head over to FAO Schwartz, where Tutu Couture seamstresses will whip up a frothy custom creation. Karl Lagerfeld recently tried his hand at designing a tutu for the role of the Dying Swan, a role first made famous over one hundred years ago by Anna Pavlova. No matter how you look at it, tutus are vogue, and have been featured in Vogue as a part of this year’s spring collections.

It looks like tutus aren’t just for ballerinas anymore.

During my recent radio interview about what life as a ballerina was like, memories rushed to the surface, making it all real again. It’s been more than twenty years since I stopped dancing professionally, but it’s an experience I carry with me always. As another ex-dancer colleague recently commented, “Dancers stand out in a crowd”. There are reasons for this. Dancers are very physical creatures. After so many years of intensive training, our bodies are shaped differently, and move differently. Grace has been ingrained and at the forefronts of our brains for decades.

Although I chose to move on from ballet as a career choice, I am grateful for the years I spent dancing, for other reasons besides the obvious. So many of the things I learned as a dancer are directly applicable in every other aspect of my life, from parenting to poetry:

1.Discipline and dedication. Continuing to show up gets you where you want to go. As a freelance writer, nothing happens unless I apply myself.

2.Memory skills. As a dancer, I had to remember where and when every step happened. As a working single parent I change hats constantly, and have to remember a lot. I once counted how many items I had to remember before breakfast was even served…let’s just say it was a heckuva lot more than seven impossible things.

3.How to take care of my body. The body is how we get around in the world. If our vehicle is constantly low on gas, or runs in fit and starts, everything else we do is affected… and compromised.

4.Practice makes perfect. Skills build over time. Any time applied in a given task will pay off in the long run. This is true in everything, from hula hooping to learning to play an instrument.

5.Mistakes are learning tools. No one performs perfectly all of the time. Mistakes are part of life, and learning from them helps us to grow.

6.Always do your best. There is great peace of mind knowing that you are giving something your all. No one can ask any more of you than that.

7.Keep a good attitude. Life is a lot more fun when you approach it with a good attitude. Sometimes attitude alone can carry you through difficult times.

8.Growing and improving are lifelong processes. There is always room to improve. This doesn’t mean mentally whipping yourself, but looking for ways to strengthen yourself in areas that are challenging.

9.It’s okay to ask for help. Sometimes there are questions we can’t answer, challenges we are up against, or things we’d like to do that we can’t do alone. Asking for help is a sign of strength of character, and it doesn’t hurt…you or anyone else.

10.Each of us has unique gifts. There has not and never will be another you. No one does things the way that you do. Find a way to share your unique gifts with others, and everyone benefits.

We can do whatever we dream about…if we believe we can.

To hear the interview about life as a ballerina, visit: http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_1057_Grier_Cooper.mp3