The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me! The first blog, and here’s the question… where to start? I guess it’s only fitting to begin with ‘the why’. Why create a blog site? Why tell the world your story? Well the answer is embedded in the word reflection. The 21st century proves to be the life of internet, social media and yes, dare I say it, online diaries; information we use to keep in a tangible book. Reflection can be healing, it can be educational, and it can be inspirational, but as life proves to be so busy where do we find the time? My intension is to create an online platform to reflect on my experience in professional dance and dance physiotherapy, which in turn may indirectly educate a dancer through their student days.

As a student, and a professional dancer I used to look up to Physiotherapists as the ‘healing gods’, right there alongside Doctors and Sports Physicians. Today, as a registered Physiotherapist, I still have so much admiration for those of more experience; I want to know what they know, how can I know what they know? Well, here’s the answer… Educate yourself, gain the experience, do what you have to, to be the best that you can be, so that one day someone may want to learn from you. And there you have it.. the ‘pay it forward phenomenon’.

So I guess here’s to my first pointe, (excuse the pun), you can never have too much experience, you can never know it all. So dancers, take everything you can from your teachers. If you learn one thing a day it’s still one more thing you didn’t know the day before. That’s 365 more things you could add to your “tool box” in a year, or 3650 things over a decade. Write it down, lap it up. Imagine the gold you could have in that year or decade if you learnt 2 or 3 useful bits of information a day? Whoow!!

Reflection is such an important part of both a Dance and Physiotherapy career. I remember lying in bed running the course of the show or dance through my head. Through Physio I then learnt that this is actually called ‘mental practise’ and can be used as a treatment technique for neurological deficits, or in the sporting population to improve outcomes and achieve goals. I wrote down all my corrections as a student, and yes, I still have them today. I must admit reading back on them is quite entertaining. So to pointe number 2.. Reflect on your day and what you have learnt. Sure, you can learn something new but if you don’t reflect on it, it’s worthless.

Why I chose such highly demanding careers, I’m not sure. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. I look forward to sharing with you the art and science of dance. I hope you enjoy the journey.

All the best

MEL

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton