Best or Second Best?

[AmaG520]

At my studio, there is a girl who is a better pirouette-er than i am, and seeminly better. Since we dance at a small studio, it not hard to see she is the best. I have been called the girl right below her. that seems to help motivate me to make myself better and it really feels good to see your acomlishments when I can start doign what she can do, Especially adding on pirouettes.

 

So the question. Do you feel teh best being COnsidered one of the top, the top, or second best?

[Victoria Leigh]

AmaG, I moved this from Dancers for Dancers, as that board is about Professional Dancers. This is really a Buddy Board topic, but since you are new and not a member of that board yet, we will put it here for now.

[Guest wishing_tobe_clara]

Wow! I think that you are in a great position. You seem like you are a hard working dancer and you are setting goals for yourself. It is obvious that you have many less experienced dancers looking up to you and that can be a great feeling. I think it is also good that you yourself have somebody to look up to and something to work for. What is most important is that you are being challenged and are improving. It seems that you have high self-esttem and that is great. You don't need to please other people, just yourself

[Victoria Leigh]

Well said, Clara. AmaG, I have never been comfortable with the idea of best, second best, or any other categorizing of dancers. Everyone is different, and learns and progresses at a different rate. Is a dancer "better" because she learns faster, or is another dancer "better" because, even though she learns slower, she remembers everything? You can't answer that. No one can. Sometimes a director has to have a dancer who learns really quickly, but other times he needs one who will remember everything he did! So, it's really not a good idea to be comparing yourself all the time. It doesn't matter if you are best, second best, or not even in the top category. What matters is the work, the progress, the joy in the work. There is no real joy in being "best", as that term is so totally subjective that it doesn't work.

 

And don't forget that pirouettes are not the criteria for judging a dancer! There are good turners who don't do much else very well at all, and there are dancers who do most things really well but their turning ability is challenged.

[Guest ballet4life]

I'm definitely not the best...or even second best, but I wouldn't even be able to tell you who is the best at my studio. There are a bunch of great dancers, but each of them has their own highlights. There's one girl who doesn't have a ton of turnout, or fabulous extention, but she is a natural turner. So in our last spring show, she was a Can Can dancer and got to show off her fouettes. Then there is another girl who has great extention and beautiful style who was our dewdrop this year in the Nutcracker. I think that they are both great dancers, but there is no way that I could compare them and choose the "best" one. Everyone has there strengths and weakenesses, but without variety, you could never do a production like the Nutcracker.

[Danzatriz]

First off, I think its great you have such confidence. For me however, its a bit different, I get distracted and mess up if Im looking at/thinking about another dancer in my class, and give my best performance when all my focus is on my body. - Anyway: a great dancer once said that he didnt dance to be better than any one else but himself... and I guess that how I try to see it, cause really, that the only thing you can really assure, than you can dance better today than you did yesterday (and that, if youy work hard enough, youll be better tomorrow).

[AmaG520]

Thanks so much...you guys helped my a lot, i came to read and saw all the comments! Thanks!