The Joy in Dance

A lot of people ask me why I decided to do the International Baccalaureate at sixth form instead of the A-levels. Looking back on how much of a mental toll that course took on me and how many tears that were shed during those two years, I ask myself that question a lot too! However, I think that I decided to take the IB because there weren’t that many sixth forms in my local area at the time that offered dance at A-level and at the time I really wanted to do a dance course, alongside my academic studies. I think that if I were to have taken the A-levels, I would have done dance, history and English as my three subjects. Back then, there were only a couple of sixth forms in my area that offered this and neither me nor my parents really liked them when we went to visit. As such, when we heard about my sixth form that offered high quality dance training, alongside a range of academic subjects, it may have been the IB but it sounded like a pretty attractive proposition at the time. If you don’t know what the IB is, it’s similar to taking a Liberal Arts course but instead for high school or sixth form level students. It prioritises breadth over depth so you end up taking six subjects in science, maths, humanities, and languages, with the aim of becoming an all-rounder in your studies. I’ve always enjoyed learning and at the time, I was coming on in leaps and bounds in terms of my academics. However, the course ended up being a lot harder than I thought it would be. It was during year 13, my final year of the IB, that I experienced quite a rocky patch in terms of my mental health. I had lengthy essays to write for every subject I was taking, including maths and science, my school days were long (sometimes going from 9am to 5pm) and I had to prepare for exams, all whilst being surrounded by some teachers who didn’t really believe in me. Whilst I made a few really good friends who I still keep in touch with today, I didn’t really feel accepted by my other peers either. My parents were getting a little bit concerned because I would come home crying more and more as time went on and I became increasingly anxious about everything I did on the course. Worst of all, I had almost stopped dancing altogether. I had given up doing dance outside of school because I no longer had the time and we ended up prioritising essay writing over actually dancing in my dance classes at school so I wasn’t doing it there either. All-in-all, I didn’t have the best experience doing the IB and I had to basically give up dance, which was something that I really enjoyed doing.

That’s why I am experiencing so much pleasure and happiness now. I actually get to dance and it’s actually fun! I don’t wish to cast a shadow on my entire experience doing the IB. In year 12, I actually found the course to be very interesting and fulfilling and I felt I was being stretched and challenged in my dance classes. However, in year 13, my teachers kept using Covid-19 as the reason why we weren’t dancing. It sounds even ridiculous to say that I was writing essays and doing my coursework more in my dance classes during my final year at sixth form, than I was actually getting up and dancing. However, I’ve made it my mission since starting university, to get back into dancing again and it has brought a sense of fulfilment to me to do so. As I’ve mentioned in my blog post about my first term of university, when I arrived at Durham, I started Ballroom and Latin dance classes where I learnt how to do the Waltz, the Quickstep, the Jive and the Cha Cha. In my first term, I took part in a Ballroom and Latin dance competition in Manchester and this term, I went to compete at a competition in Leeds against other universities. So far, it’s been a really great experience to join the university Dancesport team in their classes and competitions. I actually used to do Ballroom and Latin dance classes from the age of 13 to around the age of 16 but this was the class that I had to stop doing in the end because the IB was getting too stressful. To get back into the classes and to do so at such a high standard, feels really good. At each competition, there are different categories depending on the level of the dancer and me and my partner are currently competing in the beginner category. I haven’t done Ballroom and Latin in a while and the standard of teaching is much higher at Durham than it was at my little dance studio in Cambridge so I think this was the appropriate level for me, in all honesty. However, I’ve loved the atmosphere of the competitions so far. In our lessons, we were taught how to step onto the dance floor in a manner that made us look confident and ready to perform, how to continue after making a mistake, and we were also taught how to cheer loudly for our fellow teammates as a sign of good sportsmanship. As much as it’s fun to move onto the next round, the university dance competition space is really about learning those skills of confidence, resilience and camaraderie that are so applicable and essential to life and this is something that I really appreciate being able to get involved in.

As well as the Ballroom and Latin dance classes, I’ve also been taking part in the advanced street dance and more recently, beginner ballet classes with the Instep Dance Society at Durham. Another aspect of my IB dance classes at sixth form which I didn’t really like so much was the fact that the very few practical sessions that we did have in the final year, were very much based on one style of dance which was contemporary. The International Baccalaureate, as it says in the name, is supposed to be an international course which meant that with the dance classes, we were meant to be learning styles from a diverse range of cultures and époques. As such, I was quite disappointed that my school was really pushing people to go to London Contemporary Dance School or Northern School of Contemporary Dance, instead of other institutions that specialised in other styles of dance. Whilst I really enjoy dancing contemporary and probably will continue it in the future, I think every dance style has something special about it and the fact that we were not given the opportunity to explore that further, was a real shame. However, I really feel as though I have come alive in the street dance classes at Durham. For once, I can do something that is upbeat and fun instead of dark and depressing and it feels really refreshing. I also feel quite inspired by my dance teacher for street dance too. She is a second year Liberal Arts student and she somehow still finds the time to create innovative choreography that challenges us and makes us come alive in our performances. I’m emphasising the “Come Alive” point here because that was one of our productions at sixth form, named after the concluding performance from the Greatest Showman. This production was supposed to emulate the bright lights and the spectacle of the Greatest Showman but instead it was juxtaposed but the inclusion of the most depressing contemporary dances that the audience had ever seen on the “educational” topics of teenage suicide and depression. Whilst I sometimes enjoy a performance with a lot of angst, I’ve enjoyed taking part in the street dance classes. It has reminded me that dance does not always have to be deep and meaningful, it can just be fun and enjoyable to perform as a dancer and to watch as a member of the audience.

The beginner ballet class so far, has also been a lot of fun. Throughout my life, I had mainly been taking classes in street dance, with a few other random dance styles thrown into the mix such as jazz, contemporary, tap and Ballroom and Latin. However, I had never really trained properly in ballet before. I recognise some of the steps from the technical exercises in my contemporary classes but I had never really delved into it properly. When I was really small, my parents tried to take me to ballet classes with my older sister. It would ultimately end with me either crying before going to class, crying after class, or crying because I didn’t want to go out on stage due to stage fright. I don’t think I had much of a passion for dance back then but my studio wasn’t particularly encouraging or enthusiastic at the time either. When I moved to different studios, I had a much better time there. However, now 19 year old me, without the perfect legs, arms or feet, is giving ballet a go. So far, I’m really enjoying it. It’s not perfect but I get to practice routines and it’s giving me a base for other dance styles. Plus, my teacher is a redhead, ultra-positive person and even if you’ve had a bad day, you leave feeling really good about yourself.

That’s the point that I ultimately want to get across in this blog post. That dance and any artistic or creative endeavour can be as much about doing it for enjoyment as it can be about achieving success and mastery in said artistic endeavour. Overall, I think that my Ballroom and Latin dance classes are a good level of challenging and I take pride in being able to be taught in those classes in a manner that showcases the refinement of the style. However, I’m doing something that is uncharacteristic of my nature, especially with regards to dance and I’m choosing not to take it too seriously. If you were a fly on the wall, observing me and my dance partner in those Ballroom and Latin classes, what you would see is a group of students diligently rehearsing their routines around the studio, whilst two girls rehearse their routine together, bursting into fits of laughter every time it goes wrong. That’s probably me egging things on more than my dance partner but we still both like to joke around a bit in the classes. This is because whilst we both want to do well, we’re not doing those classes to become professional dancers, we’re doing the classes to have a moment of escape from our studies and experience the joy of dance. I think that’s why I didn’t like the type of dance that I was doing at sixth form. Not only were the routines quite depressing at times and monotone in the sense that they were always contemporary dances, it was all done in the aim of trying to get students to achieve the best grade, forgetting that it’s the effervescent enjoyment of a dance that makes or breaks a performance. In being so focused in meeting the marking criteria for dance, we focused more on essay writing than actually dancing and this coupled with the fact that I could no longer take classes outside of school, meant that I kind of forgot how to move in a strange way. Thankfully, I continued to do a bit of dancing with a dance school over my gap year but so far, I have really been enjoying dancing at university for the right reasons. For the joy of dance.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s blog post. Let me know what your creative form of expression is in the comments below, and I’ll be sure to reply to them. I love hearing what you have to say!

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See you next week,

Bye,

XOX, Juliette