11 signs that you will be a great dancer

 

 Today, I will share 11 signs that you are or will be a great dancer. So without further ado, let's dive into the content.

 

Over the years, I've been fortunate enough to interact with many dancers worldwide. And I also had the chance to interact with many great dancers. So I had the opportunity to analyse these great dancers and identify what made them so good at what they do.

 

I then came up with these 11 signs I found in every great dancer I admire. I'm not saying that they have every single one of them. But they probably have 80% of these 11 signs or 70% or 90% of these 11 signs. So the goal (for you) is to share with you these 11 signs that will give you an idea of where you are and which sign you can improve, which one you don't have at all, and which one you would need to work on to be a great dancer. 

 

I'd like to hear from you guys. Please leave a comment below to tell me, okay, Nickel, I've got 70% of those 11 signs or 80% of it, or 90% of it, or 50% of it. Just let me know in the comment below of these 11 signs

which one you've got, and bear in mind, even if you don't have all of them, that's fine. It's a way for you to know where you are. 

 

 

1. FOCUS ON DELAYED GRATIFICATION

 

The first sign is your focus on delayed gratification rather than instant gratification. What do I mean by that? A great dancer knows how to be patient.

 

He knows how to be patient and trust the process. Yes. A great dancer will focus on getting better, training regularly, and improving as a dancer, mentally and physically. And he will always focus on the process. And most importantly, do everything possible to enjoy the process.

 

A great dancer will always do that. He will not focus on instant gratification. So many times, I have heard dancers, beginners, who would say something like, okay, I've been training hard, And when I do a battle, I can't even pass the preselection and then get frustrated, which I can understand, but you need to realise that this is a process.

 

You can't come to a battle overnight; you're winning battles and making a name for yourself in the dance industry like that. Even if you've been training for two or three years, you've got people doing this for 15 years, 10 years, or 20 years.

 

How to become patient? 

 

You can't be too much in a rush. You have to enjoy the process and learn to be patient. And the best way to be patient is to focus on small wins. Rather than saying, okay, I want to win this battle, I need to travel the world and teach and do workshops.

But people who do things like that have been in the game for a long time.

 

Instead, you should be focused on, okay, this month, this is my current level. Next month, I want to get to that level, and then I want to progress more. I want to do this. I want to exchange with other dancers. I want to go to more events, and I want to take more dance classes. 

 

You see what I mean. These tiny steps you are going through will help you eventually have the big wins, but you need to focus on the process and enjoy it. Another thing as well, with social media nowadays, everybody one day post a video. They want to see how many likes they've got and how many views they've got on the videos.

 

These are instant gratification. Don't get too addicted to these instant gratifications. So what if you only have 10 likes on your videos? That's okay. As long as you focus on becoming better and growing as a dancer, the result will come, but you focus on instant gratification rather than delayed gratification, right?

 

Everything great requires effort and a lot of time to get the result.  

 

Delayed gratification is much more powerful and rewarding than instant gratification, right? So that would be the first one. 

 

2 CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT DANCING 

 

The second one is you can't stop thinking about dancing.

 

If you feel this way, there is a great chance you are already or will be a great dancer. Because when you are really passionate about dancing, your mind is committed to your passion. You are genuinely committed to your passion. 

 

Every day sometimes, I think about dancing. I might not be dancing, but I think about it every day. It can be about the next event coming. It can be about training. It can be about creating new choreography and training on new techniques to develop myself. But my brain is constantly thinking about dancing like I'm a bit addicted to it, but it's a good addiction anyway, so it's okay. 

 

This is another sign; when you keep thinking about dancing, you need to grow as a dancer to live your passion.

 

That's a great sign that you will be a great dancer. 

 

3 OBSESSED ABOUT GETTING BETTER 

 

The third sign is you are obsessed with getting better. Let me say that again. You are obsessed with getting better, so you are never satisfied with your current level. If you are like this, it is a great sign. 

 

Some people reach a certain level, and then they feel like, okay, you know what? It's too much work, too much effort, to get to that level, I'm going to stay at this level, or I'm going to train less or no, I'm too tired today, or I'm late.

With this lazy mindset, it will take a lot of work to keep pushing and progressing regularly. But if you are genuinely obsessed with improving, you will always find a way to improve. If you are already like this, chances are you are or will be a great dancer, so be obsessed about getting better. 

 

 

4 YOU ALWAYS HAVE A TARGET 

 

Number four, you always have a target.

 

You're not just dancing for the sake of dancing. You also have a target, and a target helps you be more focused. You're not just taking the road driving and need to know where you're going. No, you're driving knowing exactly where you're going. And once you hit the target, you find a different target, and then you hit this target, and then you find another one. 

Still, you always have a new target that you want to reach, so that's very important because if you want to stay focused and have a sharp mind to reach your goal: YOU WANT A TARGET.

 

Only stay with a target because if you don't have one, you start settling down and don't want that.

 

If you start being satisfied with your current level, you are slowly but surely dying, and you don't want that either.

 

5 YOU FINISH WHAT YOU START 

 

All right. Number five, you finish what you start. 

 

You are the type of person who finishes what you start. If you are like this, chances are, you will become a great dancer.

 

I'm saying this because so many people like to start things. I call that "The excitement phase".

 

What is the excitement phase? 

 

When you start something, a new project, or anything you decide to start. You feel excited about it, and then it fails. And then, when it fails, you give up on it and never finish it.

 

How to work on avoiding the excitement phase? 

 

It would be best if you worked on that in every single area of your life. Not just with dancing, take the habit of starting and finishing something. It can be a simple book. Suppose you start reading a book; make sure to finish it. And if you do that, you are developing good habits.

 

The same goes for your training. If you start training and say, okay, I will be training for two hours. You put on the music and train from the beginning to the end of these two hours. 

But if you start training and 15 minutes later, you are on your phone chatting and getting distracted by so many things, you need to do the work properly, which means you don't finish.

 

You spend your training time unconsciously. It is a bad habit that you are getting and cultivating at the same time. And this will prevent you from being a great dancer. Because the moment you hit that challenge. You will back up, you will give up, and you don't want that.

 

The best way is to work on these little things. So make sure you finish what you start. 

 

6 YOU DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU'RE GOING TO DO 

 

Number six, do what you say you are going to do. 

 

You are a man or woman of your word. 

 

If you, every time, say something and don't do it. You are creating a bad habit, and it will be hard for you to become a great dancer if you lack commitment. When you say that you will do something for your dance, it can be sending these emails, something for you, an audition or going to classes, and in the end, you're not doing them; then you are cultivating this bad habit. 

 

 There's a saying;  If you do 50% of what you say you will do, you will be mediocre. You will be average if you do 75% of what you say you will do. But if you manage to do 90% of what you say you will do, you will be great.

 

Sometimes, unexpected events can happen in your life that prevents you from doing what you say you will do. But most of the time, you must get close to this 90, 95%.

 

When you say something, you do it. When you say something, you do it.

 

That's an excellent habit to create in your life. And when you can do that, it will impact your dance significantly. If you say, okay, in six months, I want to do this battle; I will be training three times a week to prepare this. Do it because if you don't do it, you will get this habit of not doing what you say.

 

7 YOU HAVE THE I DON'T CARE MENTALITY 

 

What is it? 

 

Once you stop dancing and put your name out there, you put your style out there. You will start getting opinions from others whenever you go to an event, online or in different situations. 

 

If you know how to filter feedback and, most importantly, how to respond to feedback, it will help your dance a lot, even if they are negative or positive. 

 

On the other side, if you let other people's opinions impact you too much, it will be hard for you to keep progressing and keep having this winning mindset, no matter what is happening in your dance journey.

 

 So how do you manage that positive or negative feedback?

 

 You need to receive them pretty much the same way.

 

If you have positive feedback, that's great. But Don't get too emotional and too excited because people are saying how great you are. If you are too addicted to this positive feedback, the moment you get negative feedback, it will impact your feeling and affect your emotion, and you don't want that.

 

So instead, it's okay if you've got positive feedback; I thank you for that. I appreciate your words. And this helped me to keep going in what I do. And that's it. You don't need to be too excited because people say that you're great and stuff like that, that's it. What I'm saying is challenging to do.

 

Sometimes I struggle with that because depending on the person who gives me this positive feedback, this can have a different impact on me, but I always try to control my emotions. So when I got this positive feedback, I was a hundred per cent grateful for them, but I only spent a little time on them.

 

I only spend a little time on them because I know there is always room for improvement. So the same thing happened for the negative feedback. If they are constructive, try to learn from them and grow with that. If they are not and are just rubbish and people are trying to be mean to you, don't take it too seriously. 

It's easier to say more than to do it. But at least you need to be aware of this.

 

Positive feedback makes you feel good and negative feedback might make you feel bad, but you don't want to keep this feeling for too long; the same goes for positive feedback. You want to avoid getting attached to this for too long because this will distract you as well.

 

So very important, you need to develop this I don't care mentality. I don't want to sound Harsh. I'm just honest. Try to control your emotion as much as possible. We are all human. I'm not saying that you need to be a robot and not care about it.

 

No, that's not what I'm saying, but you also need to learn to protect your emotions to protect your feeling because otherwise, other people will just be messing around with your mindset. And you don't want that, right? 

A great dancer can filter and make the best of each feedback. If it's constructive, he will know. Here's what I need to take to learn from this and improve. If it's positive feedback, what can I take from this and learn to improve? So he will always find a way not to get too distracted by other people's opinions and stay focused on his path.

 

8 YOU ARE CONSISTENT

 

Number 8, You are consistent. 

 

Consistent is doing little things repeatedly, which will significantly impact down the line. Most people will stop having good habits. 

 

For example, let's say I want to train twice a week or three times a week. You will need to be consistent with it because you might see fewer results initially. You will be like, okay, I've been training like this for one month, but I'm not getting any better.

 

And you stop overthinking and say, okay, you know what, I'm going to give up. 

And then two months later, you realise, Oh, I missed my training and now

I realised I shouldn't have stopped, okay. Let me come back to it again. So you do it for two months. This time, you are dedicated to your training for two months, then you give up again, stop for one month or two months, and then come back again.

 

So you're constantly doing this. Going up, you're here. You lose momentum because you stop for a while, then you try to return to it again and come back here. Once you're here, you lose momentum again, and the more you lose momentum, the more this is playing with your mind, and each time you lose momentum, it's harder for you to come back.

 

This is why you need to be consistent. Consistency is extremely important. I would rather be someone training once a week for one year; this person will progress much more than someone who trained every day for two months and then stops. This is very powerful. So no matter your schedule, even if you are very busy, find something to stick to and stay consistent.

 

If you can do that, you will progress over time, but most importantly, you will develop a consistent habit. And then you will start getting more results just because you've been doing the work regularly for a very long time. So very important to cultivate the habit of being consistent.

 

9 YOU ARE A GREAT OBSERVER 

 

Number 9, You are a great observer.

 

Extremely important as a dancer! You need to be a great observer. It's great to learn by practising, but it is also great to learn just by watching. And the more you can do that over time, the better you will get at it. With experience, we can watch other dancers and watch a choreography that we want to learn, and we are learning; we are getting inspired and taking so much information just by watching.

 

Yes. Very important. You need to be a great observer, and if you are a great observer, This will also help you progress much faster because you are great at learning, and implementing, which is good. Even when you are not training in a room, with other people or friends, but just by going to an event, or watching the band's video on YouTube or stuff like this, you are learning, you are practising, and when you know how to do that properly, this will make you progress much faster. So be a great observer.  

 

10 YOU HAVE A GREAT WORK ETHIC

 

Extremely important. Most people expect to have great results, but they don't want to put on the work, but as a dancer, to me, if you feel like training is hard work, probably dancing is not for you because this is something that should be fun to do if you really like training and take time to train, to get better.

 

It should not be hard work; even if you are working hard, it should not feel like hard work. Because it's your passion. I remember being with my crew, especially at the beginning. We used to travel to many places in France to exchange with other dancers.

 

We would be training in the morning and then get a phone call from other dancers who are training tonight saying, okay, where are you going to train? Cool. I'm coming. Boom. We go there, and we train. And then we go home late and stuff like that.

 

And we would do this regularly. Yes, this is too much work, but we didn't see it that way. We just saw it as an opportunity to train more, to get better, and a chance to practice our passion. That was it. See, your work ethic will play a significant role in your success. 

Yes, it has to be something you do naturally and love doing, and you can do it for hours and hours. Every person succeeding at something has been practising and doing it for hours and hours. Any single person who is great at something has a good work ethic.

 

11 BE DIFFERENT 

 

This is my favourite one. One of my favourite quotes is different is better than better. Most people, especially in the dance industry, want to be the best to compete with others and compare themselves.

 

Comparison is the thief of joy, so don't spend too much time comparing yourself with others and trying to be the best, or you need to beat this guy. I need to get better than this guy. Trust me; if you start thinking of how I can be different, you will have a much better result because now you can stand out from the crowd and have your own voice. And that's much more powerful than trying to be the best. 

 So great dancers understand I need to focus on myself, develop my own style, and build my own voice so that whenever I start dancing, people will know, "This is me. This is my style. This is my way of moving. This is my way of thinking."

 

 It is the type of thing you need to focus on, and the great thing is that every one of us is already unique. It would help if you found this; how can I be different? How can I embrace my style and put it out there? 

 

 Focus on being different. If you really think about this, there is always a way that you can do things differently, especially as a dancer, because we don't move the same way, nor talk nor walk the same way.  

 

So there is always something that you can do as a dancer that would be different to the other person. You can get inspired, yes. You can also have a particular person who inspires you. Like you're saying, okay, this person, this level, this is the type of level that I want to reach, but that's it.

 

You don't need to compare yourself too much with this person. You don't even need to think, okay, I'm going to be better than this guy because it will be a headache over time. 

 

Try always to think, how can I be different? How can I be different? Can I be different?

 

And if you do that, you will always stand out. You may appeal to only some. That's not a problem because no one can appeal to everyone anyway. But it's okay because you will also filter and attract the right people in your life. 

 

So try to be different. It can be the way you teach. It can be how you practice, or it can be how you create your choreography, or it can be the way you freestyle. Certain things that you do that most people don't do. Create your system.

 

Once again, it will not happen overnight but focus on that. The more you focus on that, the more it will come. 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

So that being said, these are the 11 signs. I know it sounds like a lot. And you might be saying, Oh my gosh, I don't even have half of this. It is for you to have an idea of the things you can improve.

 

These are the things that I already have, and I can maybe get better at them. So even if you don't have a hundred per cent of them, that's fine. And I believe I don't have a hundred per cent of them, but if you only have, let's say 70% of them, you can be a great dancer.

 

If you only have 80% of them, you can be a great dancer. 

 

 I'd like to hear from you guys. Just leave your comment below. Let me know 70%, 50%, be honest and try not to think about these. Okay. So leave your comment below, guys. I'd like to hear from you.