Always be hungry
By Heather Hardesty
Professional Mentor
Happy Spring
Everyone! I apologize it’s been a while since you heard from me.
The theme of 2018 so far has been – Busy. Which in my opinion is
always a glorious thing! This mini hiatus has also given me time to
think about what I was going to write about. I’m always taking in
my surroundings whether I’m teaching a dance class, sitting and
observing at a dance convention, watching others teach or attending a
conference. There’s one thing that stands out to me and that is
hunger. I’m not talking about needing to eat hunger, but the kind
of hunger that moves you to be the best version of yourself. This is
the subject I would like to talk a little about today.
I think it’s very
easy to lose your hunger once you’ve established yourself in your
profession, no matter what it is you do. There’s a feeling that
once you’ve “made it” you don’t have to continue to work for
it, because you “made it”. Look at those around you. Who still
gets excited talking about what they do? Who around you still has a
sparkle in their eye? Who around you still trains in their given
profession? Who around you sees an obstacle as fuel or opportunity?
Those are the people who are still hungry. These are the people who
realize that they will always to certain extent be a student
sometimes. These are the people who get excited for the unknown and
can’t wait to see the possibilities in the unknown. Does
everything ever work out for these people? Absolutely not! But the
difference in those that hunger to be better and those that don’t
hunger to be better is happiness.
Think about the
times you are happy – truly happy. The world is just a little bit
brighter. People can’t help but smile when they are around you.
You attract positive people. Things seem to go your way. Now think
about times you are not happy. You tend to see the world in a
different way. You complain more. You attract others that are
unhappy and things don’t ever seem to go your way. What is the
difference you ask? I choose to believe the difference is how you
choose to react to a situation. In my experience, those that remain
hungry are more positive in all aspects of their life.
In the dance world,
styles are always evolving. New, younger teachers come around and
sometimes replace teachers who have teaching for lots of years.
There’s always new ways of teaching a specific genre. Choreography
is ever changing. How is that some who have been dancing forever are
still around, but others are not? The ones that are still around
have never stopped learning. These dancers/teachers are still are
students. These dancers/teachers still attend yearly workshops to
stay on top of what is current. These dancers/teachers, depending on
their season, evolve. Those that are still around today never rested
on their success in their 20’s and 30’s. They used that success
to make them hungry to continue to learn and grow. We know that we
as dancers/teachers will reach a time where we can’t move as well
as we did back in our 20’s or 30’s and that is okay. We find
ways to still contribute – get a demonstrator for class, take on
more admin duties, choreography, teaching a class on dance
history/dance technique, hosting workshops, etc.
So how do you regain
your hunger? My advice, if you can, is take a mini sabbatical. That
can come in the form of taking the summer off, not teaching for a
semester or cutting back even one day. This is if you are able to –
I know not everyone is able to. I would take that time to be a
student. If you are in the dance world, go take a class in a genre
you have little experience or exposure to. Put yourself out there.
Revisit what it was like to be a student. I promise it will ignite
something in you. During your time off, read! Check out every book
you can at the library that talks about success, persistence and
drive. Take notes and identify what the common trait all of these
people have that continue to have success. I would also find an
opportunity to volunteer to teach kids who don’t have the chance to
take dance or can’t for whatever reason. I think it’s important
to see the pure joy and excitement a child has taking their first
dance class. They are hungry and want to learn! It’s important to
go back to that whenever possible. It shows us how important our job
is and helps us to not forget the passion and the hunger we have for
our art.
I hope you never
lose your hunger in whatever profession you decide to pursue. I’m
so thankful that as a business owner, teacher and dancer in the dance
world, I still have the drive and the hunger to be better today than
I was yesterday. My wish is the same for you.
