Many may argue the upbringings of a dancer as a rough and demanding experience, filled with severe commitments and strenuous in the mind and body. Regardless of its obvious negative reputation, dance training has many positive affects on both the mind and body. The way dance training develops throughout a dancer's life shapes that person. Training develops his/her personality as well as identity. Starting as little as three years of age, training is much like "parenting" in some ways. Dance instructors start to mold the child at their sensitive years. These children learn to not only dance but also how to be a dancer; they learn not only how to create movement but how to become artists. Training early is important not only in ballet but in all areas of dance, to develop well (technique, behavior, maturity) is to have a better chance in opportunities to a successful career. Looking at not only dance but including sports and demanding fields like the arts, training plays a big part in developing a great athlete or musician. The time commitment, the work put it day in and day out, the sacrifices, the mental strains as well as physical conditioning, those who devote to a rigorous career as professional dancing, or professional sports share all these. As a dancer myself I came to question, am I the same as someone who did not go through the crazy dance training I did? How my dance training background does make me different from an average person? These questions led me to research how dancers differs from non-dancers. Looking at child development, personality building, and adulthood interactions, dance training affects the entire life of those who decide to follow the professional dance career. 

Starting as a fourteen-year-old turning fifteen in ballet class was not the easiest thing in the world. My skill level was down with the twelve to ten-year-olds who had been dancing since they were three. I started late, however I worked twice as much as everyone else in my studio. For those who start early they already won half of the battle in technique. While I was struggling with bad feet and poor flexibility, the girls who started early had no problem extending the legs up to their ears and noses as well as making their toes curl in a perfect arc. Watching the little children's ballet classes illuminates the idea of "parenting" the children into becoming a great dancer. In between ages three to five, their dance training consists of developing motor skills as well as hand-eye coordination. Much like normal child development where the child learns how to jump, run, discern right from left, etc. , dance child development does just the same but pushes the child a little further into development. The technique used resembles what one would use in a classroom (balls and shapes, colors and figures) with the addition of dance technique (the positions of feet and arms, left and right stage, performance quality, etc.) but never as intense as the upper level classes. Here instructors are teaching the kids how to dance, giving them a foundation to build from, not correcting their already existing technique. As the child gets older and advances to upper level classes, things get a little more intense at every step. Here is where they transition from being a child to becoming a dancer. According to Franklin Stevens, the author of Dance as Life "the dancer, as student, becomes a child of the teacher. But not the one child among many to be equally cherished, equally nurtured. The teacher, as parent, is totally biased, totally prejudiced, and plays favorites with quiet intensity from the very beginning. This one is fat, and it doesn't look like the kind of baby fat that comes off. Forget her. After two years that one still moves as if she were on stilts. Forget her. That one has knock-knees. Forget him. That one is growing too tall, but she moves well and has a good back. Keep an eye on her. That one is a natural and has everything and she loves to move. God bless. Nurture. Cherish. Work on her. That one started too late. Not enough tome to learn now, the body too old and set now (at fourteen or fifteen). Could have been possible a few years ago, but not now. Gone forever now. A pity. Forget her"(Stevens, 9). From day one, this is what kids deal with in class, the less fortunate ones who have bad feet or poor technique become ghosts in the class. Often made examples of what not to do regarding to technique but ghosts nonetheless. Although harsh and unfair, this shows how competitive the dance field is. One can always be replaced by someone better, the dancer has to always keep improving and humbling himself/herself to stay on top of technique and performance. Learning this concept at a young age leads to a better dance career. We as dancers come equipped from day one of class to watch out for "favorites" and work hard every class to become one. 

Starting at three-years-old to about five, children go through their developmental stages. These years are often referred to as the sensitive years, where the child develops important skills and personality traits. Child development illustrates the beginning of shaping a person. Shaping consists of developing a personality, and generating responses to the environment around a person. A child during these sensitive years resembles a sponge absorbing new information in the environment in which this child is exposed to. Therefore, in a dance setting the child's environment consists of other older dancers, and the "pressure" that lurks around in the studio (competitions, rehearsals, performances, etc.). The child is accustomed to that environment, especially if the child is being training to become a professional dancer. With the older kids around, the younger ones tend to look up to them. Usually, younger kids dream of wearing pointe shoes (in the ballet studios), thus they see the older girls dancing in their pointe shoes and they long for that moment when they will get to do that. Therefore, they work hard to get their bodies to do the things they see every day at the studio. This in many ways is a form of motivation. According to Jim Taylor and Ceci Taylor authors of the Psychology of Dance "Motivation, in its most basic form, involves the ability to initiate and persist at a task. Applied to dance, motivation is the capacity for dancers to persist in the face of boredom, fatigue, pain, and at the desire to do other things"(Taylor and Taylor, 20). At a young age is hard for kids to find "true" motivation to keep them dancing. Looking up to other dancers often helps most dancers to get through many obstacles in their dance training. 

Watching other older dancers, or even younger ones can inspire any young or older dancer to do the best they can to achieve their expectations. Either at the studio, watching a dance performance live, or even watching a TV show at home, can influence the development of a dancer. With that comes the affect of the media. I remember being little and going to watch ballets, I longed to be able to do what they did on stage. Even now when I watch ballets or even just watch a dance piece online, I push myself harder and harder to be able to do what I saw. In today's society, we have some TV shows that are meant to inspire young dancers everywhere. So You Think You Can Dance is one of them. Here dancers are given a week to learn a dance piece and compete in front of millions of people. They then are judged and some get eliminated. This competition is a good example of what good dance training can do for a dancer. In contrast, Dance Moms, another TV show, illustrates the darker, more intense side of dance. Here we have a competition studio who competes every weekend at different states. The artistic director, Abby Lee Miller, has a competition team that consists of seven to fourteen-year-old girls. These girls undergo a "pyramid" time after every competition at the studio to judge their performances. At "pyramid", Abby then tells the girls, not in a very nice fashion who is at the bottom and why and goes up the pyramid until she gets to very top (which is where everyone wants to be in). These children have to stand side by side, backs straight, heads held high and take every comment that comes out the director's mouth. Moreover, during rehearsals these kids have to be quick and mentally strong to be able to learn choreography quickly and perform it well. Therefore, the maturity level that these kids show succeed what is expected of them at that age. In addition, the metal and physical strain put on these kids are meant to be carried by someone much older than they are, thus showing their development in that particular dance studio (environment in which they "grew up" in.). According to Franklin Stevens "More and more of the student's life becomes occupied with dance. Like those Hassidic Jewish children who hurry from home to Hebrew school and Hebrew school to home, shoulders bent and faces pale from long hours of study, the boy's long curls bobbling beside their ears, a group set distinctly apart from other American children, dancers trot daily from elementary or high school to dance class and rehearsal (not pale, or with shoulders bent, but with that quietly vigorous glow of basic health which most dancers have even as they grow older)"(Stevens 15). At Abby's dance studio some of the girls are home schooled and they live and breathe dance; they are at the studio all day and sometimes until late at night. This is the schedule of some much older professional dancers, but that is what they know and how they were taught during their development stage. The results of that rigorous training consists of award after award, first place after first place, which ultimately led to winning the national dance competition. Here, Abby is teaching the kids how to survive in the dance world. Professionally, the dance world is not a nice and "friendly" place. What teachers try to teach their students who are in the professional road (even those who are not) at their developmental phase is to be mentally and physically strong to overcome anything in their path. Ballerina, a documentary about the Russian ballerinas illustrates the journey of a dancer from childhood to adulthood. This movie shows how rigorous ballet training can be and what it takes to become a prima ballerina. Not quite as dramatic as Dance Moms, here the dancers undergo a very rigorous training from day one of auditions to their very last performance before becoming professional dancers. Whether here in the US or across the globe to Russia, dancers undergo a hard journey that not always turns out great, but since the beginning of training as kids they learn to deal with any situation presented to them along the way. 

According to Jim Taylor and Ceci Taylor "The only way to improve in any area- whether physical, technical, artistic, or mental- is through commitment, hard work, and patience. Time and effort must be expended on every aspect of training, including physical, technical, and mental preparation" (Taylor and Taylor, 2). Much like dance sports hold a same concept when it comes to training and having a successful career. Whether a dancer, an athlete, or a musician, training and determination shapes the outcome of the one's development. Because of persistence, maturity and discipline (among many other traits acquired by training) we stand out among the "average" person. In contrast to someone who did not train or developed in a dance (or athletic) environment, we who did train and committed to rehearsals and class, and overcame the physical and metal strains have a "superiority" and a greater maturity level than the average person. 

From child development to adulthood, dance training can have lifelong effects in a person's personality development as well as physical developments. Both good and bad can come out of dance training but overall dance is a very competitive and rigorous field regardless of age. Although rewarding dance can also lead to physical and mental problems. Overall we as dancers stand out in society due to our rigorous training and our development as people.
