1. Give up excuses and show up for practice. Whether you’re part of a Company or not, whether you have a dance job or not. Whether you have a nice space to dance or not. Get up in the morning and do a morning class for two hours. It’s great if you have a teacher, but do your morning class even if you don’t.

2. Love Music. Immerse yourself in it. Listen to all kinds. Discover new artists and new apps where upcoming artists showcase their art.

3. Do quality and quantity practice. Research and invest in your training. You already know quantity practice if you’re a dancer. But for Quality practice, become a student of dance for life. Research, research and research some more. I don’t mean YouTube. You need to train with different teachers and dancers who have trained and taught different styles and learned from good teachers with varied influences and experience. Invest in your training to keep growing as a dancer. Self-practice a lot during and after training. When you return from training with a teacher, you must improv and create on your own. You would have learned about using the body in so many ways after this, that when you improv, you will flow effortlessly.

4. Make your own videos. Record all of your practice sessions. The more, the better. Share with your teachers or even on social media. Don’t be afraid of hate. You will learn so much more and way faster than you did earlier.

5. Train every single day. Have you taken a break from dance even though you love it? To be a working artist, comes with its challenges. Even for people who pursue dance as a hobby, over a longer timeline, it is not easy and straight-forward. We all crave some stability but also growth and novelty. We all face resistance from people or circumstances and it’s easy to give up or take a break and delay coming back, because we don’t want to be hurt by something we love so much. But, if you can weather life’s challenges, dance can be one of the most rewarding things in your life. Also, haters in and out of family are going to hate but you can’t potate because of them. No more a people pleaser? Still, silence that inner critic and get up and train every day. What about rest, you ask? Rest days, you can still flex and point. Rest days are needed and can’t be ignored. Daily training with one day of very very less training ( what I call, informed resting ) and more recovery works best for me.

6. Find mentors and teachers and soak in their company as much as you can and they allow. Observe them, tell them your challenges and then learn to actively listen.

7. Don’t ignore any aches or pain. Eat well. When injuries get worse, it takes far longer to recover. Be kind to your body. Nourish it with healthy food and try to have a fixed time for your large meals. Research says, that eating at a fixed time daily or more or less the same time, helps the body in making the most of it – better digestion and absorption.

8. Stretch and work on your flexibility every day. Warming up and stretching before class and cool down and stretching after class is a must. It cannot be said enough. It helps in joint mobility, avoiding injuries, and keeping good energy flow in your body.

9. Challenge yourself regularly. Always be on the lookout for moves and dance techniques that challenge you. Not only will it help you add to your repertoire, but growth and change will help you evolve, increase your self awareness and help you express yourself more. These skills in performance and practice will help you be a stronger dancer and a stronger individual, ready for uncertainties.

10. Listen to music for fun. If you are constantly working, you’ll be resentful and tire out soon. It will bore you out and you could start beaming boredom. Kidding. Never forget to have fun listening to music. Don’t be biased and open your heart to all kinds.

11. All feedback is good feedback. Work on your filters. Filter out the negativity if the words are harsh, but listen clearly for bits of truth. Sometimes, we already know and had been procrastinating. Well, now’s your chance. Do not let anyone or words pull you down. Use the useful bits to change something if you can help it, grow, and be thankful. Zen mode on.

These are some of the things that I’ve been through and learned over the years, sometimes the hard way. You are welcome to share your experiences here. We would love to hear from you.