Older Dancer in A Young Dance World

In a recent blog post I recieved a comment asking, what is your advice to older dancers in their 20s trying to qualify for worlds? I responded but decided it would be a great topic for my next blog post.

As everyone on Diddlyi knows, Irish Dance is far from easy. It takes hours of training and commitment, and that is why many dancers decide to retire from the competitive world when they start post-secondary education. I was one of those girls. The stress of work, school, and life are just too much to handle when Irish Dance is also in the picture. However, I came back, and many women and men never leave.

Coming back out of retirement, 5 years, was a challenge in itself, but other than the physical demand I realized I had to accept the fact that I was much older then my fellow competitors. At regular feises I could compete with dancers who are 6 years younger than myself, and that's intimidating. But I found that the best way to stay focused on your goals was to make a plan and stick to it.

Below are my top 3 pieces of advice for standing out in a young competive world.

1. STAY FIT & CROSS TRAIN!

You've probably heard it a million times from your dance teachers and fellow students, but it really is uber important. When you start getting older it's harder to stay as fit as we were when we were kids and teens. Although practicing your steps and drills are very important it's also important to train your body in a variety ways. This not only helps you stay fit but keeps you from getting bored as well. Some examples of cross training exercises are; Running or Biking for Stanima, Core Exercises for posture, and even Ballet for turnout!

2. MAKE REALISTIC SMALL GOALS

It's so easy to get frustrated when you're not reaching your goals fast enough. I found that if I created smaller goals I stay focused and encouraged, instead of disappointing myself and feeling like a failure. In my teen years my goals were "qualify for worlds" and "win" and I was never satisfied. Now my goals are "i'm going to wok extra hard on turning out my feet today" and "go on stage and enjoy it". You'll feel like you accomplished something everyday. This isn't to say not to have big goals, it's important to stay focus, however create smaller goals to step closer each day to your dreams.

3. DO ALL YOU CAN DO IN THE MOMENT

Come off of stage and out of class saying "I did all I could do today". If you are able say that you will feel accomplished no matter what the result is. There will always be factors of competitions that you can't control. At the Nationals it was my injury, and at the Oireachtas it was bumping into my competitor. You can control how react but you can't control everything. Give yourself a break and allow the uncontrollable to roll of your back. You might not of liked how you danced your first round, but did you give it your all on stage? Probably. So go back on stage and do the same in your second round.

I'm no expert. I'm just a 24 year old dancer trying to reach my dreams. These are the steps i've started to take to do that. I have had some recent success and plan on working more to keep going. I hope that you'll find some inspiration in this post. Don't give up on yourself. It's hard having the responsibilities of life and irish dance. Keep pushing and smiling.

Best Wishes,

Maggie

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Comment by Jessie on January 23, 2012 at 11:29pm: May I add another tip? Stop worrying about who your competitors are, or how they're dancing. You can't control them! You have no idea who will show up at any given feis, you have no idea how hard they've worked, or whether they'll have a good or bad day. And by worrying about how they're dancing, or the fact that dancer X showed up (oh my god she's so good, I'm not as good as that, I'll never do well today) you're losing your focus and possibly evn putting yourself down into a negative mindspace before you even start. It's hard to dance your best on stage when you've spent the last half hour telling yourself you're not good enough/too old/too unfit etc etc to do well! You'll never dance as well in this mindset as you've already decided that it will never be good enough anyway.

I have even seen dancers so worked up and focussed on beating one specific dancer that they never do, because they're always focussed aggressively on out dancing them, then their technique goes out the window and they look tense on stage. They build so much hype on beating that one person that the nerves & pressure get to them and they never dance their best.

Instead, block out everything but yourself and control yourself. Think about what YOU do well, think about your own steps, and focus ONLY on dancing your best. You might be surprised by what you can achieve when you're thinking positively at a feis.

Comment by Aisling on January 7, 2012 at 4:50pm: thanks Maggie for the encouragement! small steps before the big leap :D

Comment by Margaret Wilkins on January 5, 2012 at 9:34pm: Don't get discouraged Aisling. Just because you didn't achieve your goal this time doesn't mean you won't reach it next time or the time after that. Break each goal into small goals. Look at your comments from the feis... what do you need to work on? For example if your comment was "Need to be higher on toes"...Go into class or practice and say "i will concentrate on staying higher on my toes today" and come out of that class knowing you did everything you could towards that small goal. Maybe your teacher noticed your posture wasn't as good, but you worked as hard as you could on staying on your toes. Don't let one small defeat turn into a wall.

Comment by Aisling on January 5, 2012 at 9:30pm: after a disappointing feis i came back here to re-read and am trying to set smaller goals again... looking on the bright side i did better than i had in the previous feis... so small steps! :)

Comment by Margaret Wilkins on December 16, 2011 at 4:44pm: No problem Katie. Good Luck with your irish dance endeavors.

Comment by Katie Lundberg on December 16, 2011 at 3:10pm: Maggie, thank you so much for your entry. I am also a 24 year old dancer (started dancing at 22!) and am trying my hardest to move up but am enjoying every minute. :)

Comment by Margaret Wilkins on December 11, 2011 at 10:55pm: Thank you Susan. I wish I knew where in the world it is. When I sold it in 2004ish it went to Michigan. It was my very first custom made solo, and I had it made in Australia. I had this made when Gavin first started to become popular and Zebra print and neon was all the rage so it stood out.

Comment by Susan J. E. Ritta on December 11, 2011 at 10:43pm: I just gotta say, a bit off-topic, that I LOVE your green and gold three-panel dress in the last picture! I hope it's still getting competition time from a younger dancer; it's just so classic and lovely. :-)