A Dance Competition That's More Than A Trophy

Hi I’m Jessica, the artistic director and co-owner of The 360 Dance Experience

I was a competition dancer for 12 years. Almost every weekend of competition season from ages 6 to 18, my family would pack up the car with costumes and props and head to a different hotel ballroom or high school auditorium to compete with my team for the first-place trophy. I knew from the age of 6 that dance was going to be my life. I worked hard, trained hard, and I won big. But all of a sudden, when I started working professionally, I quickly learned nobody cared about the trophies I won. 

Why did I spend so much of my life (and my parent’s money) competing?

I can now see that the things I took from my dance competition days ran deeper than a shiny piece of plastic. The training, education, friends, mentors, lessons, and even rejection I experienced from my competition days are invaluable to my career as a professional dancer, dance teacher, nutritionist, and even now, a business owner.

Here are some of the highlights:

Body.

You only get one body, treat it well and use it right. As a young competitive dancer, you are taught to push yourself. That is a valuable skill that you can take in any walk of life. Hard work and determination can get you to the top of any field. But what will keep you there is then listening to your body. If your body is telling you that you are hungry, eat. If your body is telling you that you are injured, rest. And if your body is telling you it can do more, do it. Future blog posts will dive deeper into the different aspects of ‘body’ that The 360 will explore.

Mind.

Winning is the best feeling in the world. When you win you should be proud of your big accomplishment, you worked hard and you deserve this recognition. Losing, on the other hand, stinks. A way to make the best out of a bad situation is to learn from your losses. Learn how to lose respectfully and applaud the people who won, they worked just as hard as you did and deserve the praise. Learn how to deal with the emotions that come with losing. Those will be overwhelming feelings that you can identify and move on from in a healthy way. Finally, and in my opinion, most importantly, learn how to come back stronger. The biggest positive that can come from losing is that you now have something to work on. Losing can keep you from becoming complacent and will keep you working hard until the next competition. Everyone will lose at some point in life, it’s good to learn how to deal with loss early and in a safe and nurturing studio environment. Check out our mind blog about 5 Ways To Practice Competitive Kindness.

Business.

You will see these people again. Always lead with kindness. It is hard to believe how small the world is until you experienced it. You may run into a former competitor at an audition, at a job interview, or on your kid’s first day of kindergarten. You want to have left a positive impression on all of the people you meet along the way. Good practices for competition kindness are congratulating everyone for a job well done, sharing your space while taking class, and cheering on everyone, no matter where they dance! Future blog posts will dive into the different aspects of ‘business’ that The 360 will explore.

How does this fit into The 360 Dance Experience?

At The 360 we are working to create a new dance experience that gives dancers, dance teachers, and dance parents value beyond the trophy. We are working to equip all attendees with a knowledge and education base that they can bring with them anywhere their life leads. 

When you’re packing up to start your professional career, whether it be dance or otherwise, don’t take the trophies, take the bigger lessons that you will learn at The 360 Dance Experience. 

If this opportunity excites you, sign up for our mailing list to get the latest 360 information first.

Or, if you feel like you have something to offer the 360 we would love to hear from you too. The 360 is currently looking for multi-hyphenate dance industry leaders to add to our staff 

I’ll see you on the dance floor,

Jessica Ice