It seems so obvious that you shouldn’t tell young people that they can’t do something or that they’ll never be able to do something. First, it’s simply incorrect. Second, it makes you sound dumb and insecure as the “adult” in the room. And yet I’ve heard from family after family about how their young dancer came home after being told that they didn’t have the physique, the feet, the turnout, or the rhythm to be a dancer.
Because I know that there’s some insecure dance teacher somewhere telling your kid what they won’t be, let me paint a more specific picture for you…
Jacqueline Green (my beautiful queen) is a Principal Dancer with Alvin Ailey. She performs more than any other classical Principal Artist in the world, and she’s written up by the world’s leading dance critics and journalists a few times a year. She’s a star and does the work daily to enjoy the benefits of all that comes with that. When she was in the 5th Grade her dance teacher told her that she’d never be a professional dancer because of her lack of rhythm. Imagine a grown a** person telling a 10-year-old that there’s something that they CAN’T do. And yet, it happened.
Lizzie Howell is social influencer that went viral after posting a video of herself doing fouettes. On a daily she uses dance to inspire people to push beyond societal norms. She’s not just a dancer that says, “look at me I’m beautiful”. She uses dance to inspire people to step outside of their comfort zone and SLAY. She’s a teenager that has a professional dance career that’s larger than 99% of professional dancers that have all of the extension, feet, physique, and LOOKS to be a dancer. Everyday someone tells her that she shouldn’t be a dancer and can’t be a great one. It seems crazy to tell someone they can’t be someone WHILE THEY’RE CURRENTLY THAT THING, and yet it happens every day.
I have dozens of clients that have the exact same story with an insecure dance teacher on the other end of a terribly inaccurate and premature judgment of a kid. Can’t is a low vibration word.
Kids should be taught that they can do anything with hard work. It’s never been truer than right now!
I hope this helps you on your journey!
@tdacoach