No 33. Changing Lives through Dancing
By David Earl Woodbury
Friday, August 18, 2015
Believing in Others!
While watching dancers compete, I am always blown away by the commitment, energy, drive, and preparation from the dancers. They have first come together to be a team. They have mastered the art of organization. They plan their practices, their lessons, their competitions and travel and all the many, many aspects that go into competition.
They budget for their costumes and their entry fees. Many of the top competitors are also top instructors, studio executives, guest directors, franchisees, and some are also dance judges themselves. They are masters with their own calendars, their shared daily planners, their diets, their exercise, their daily practicing, and their discipline.
Men can be stimulated to show off their good qualities to the leader
who seems to think they have good qualities.
— John Richelsen
How can you not believe in the couples as they dance round after round, and heat after heat of dances? They are fully in the moment and they are one with each other, the music, the judges, and their audience. There is magic being created on the floor. They are creating energy right in front of you and a floor full of these magnificent couples is a sight to behold.
It teaches the strong to know when they are weak and the brave to
face themselves when they are afraid. To be proud and unbowed in
defeat yet humble and gentle in victory. And to master ourselves
before we attempt to master others. And to learn to laugh, yet never
forget how to weep. And to give the predominance of courage over
timidity.
— General Douglas MacArthur, on the virtues of competitive athletics.
Most dancers who make it to the top are awesome people. They have paid their dues, they have earned the right to be champions. In a final round of the top partnerships, you will find that they are all perfectly groomed, perfectly polished and rehearsed, and they are on top when it comes to decorum and manners. They have mastered the art of Floorcraft on and off the dance floor.
Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.
— J. Andrews
The life of man is like a game with dice; if you don’t get the throw
you want, you must show your skill in making the best of the throw
you get.
— Terence
If you do the best you can, you will find, nine times out of ten,
that you have done as well as or better than anyone else.
— William Feather (1889-1981) American Author and Publisher
Some couples compete for many years before they make it to the top. They dance many, many years of competition and they the floodgates of success open up to them and they have their great season of victories. They might come in second many, many times before reaching the first place. They may have a tough competition, rough floor, bad health, hard times, yet they persevere. They continue to do their best and they find that the only real magic is reaping the rewards of hours and hours, months and years of preparation and practice.
Perhaps the name of this blog should be “Believing in Yourself”. If you can’t love yourself, how are you going to love someone else? That’s a great motto. Champion ballroom dance teams often go on to great careers in coaching, judging, designing, performing, and mentoring other dancers. They have a career for life and some are living legends.
Right actions for the future are the best apologies for wrong ones in
the past.
— Tyron Edwards
Plan for the future, believe in others, but most of all, believe in yourself!
Keep on Dancing!
David Woodbury