In the professional world people are usually people defined by their chronological age. People tend to start assuming a lot of things the moment they get to know about someone’s age. Age tells a lot about a person. But it’s not the same in our world, the world of art and culture. Here, age is just a number, people are treated equally and given equal opportunities despite their age.
People usually feel that “it’s too late to start dancing”, “I can’t dance now, I am too old for this”, and the list goes on. It’s something that a lot of people think. But, a quick answer for it, is no. It’s never too late to start dancing.
Do whatever and whenever
You can start to dance whenever you want. There are people who start biking at the age of 6 or 60. People find love at the age of 10 or 70. People get married at the age of 18 or 80. Age is not something that determines whether you succeed or not, or even enjoy any of these things. It all depends on how you feel about something, what you want for yourself and where you are in your life at that moment. Everyone is allowed to choose or try a new hobby, career, lifestyle, place to live whenever they want. And, once you give yourself freedom from those arbitrary societal constructs, you free yourself to pursue dance at the age of 20, 30, 45, 55, 70…
Be friends with your fear
Many of us live with the fear of being judged with the society we live in. We fear that society will mock us if we start dancing at a later age. We are scared of not being able to keep up in the dance class. We fear that we will end up embarrassing ourselves.
And guess what? These are the good signs. These are the absolute reasons why you should start dancing without giving a lot of thought to it. We always resist taking risks or certain opportunities in dance because we are scared.
“Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do.”
- Steven Pressfield, an American author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays.
The more you feel resistance against something, the more it means to you, and the more you are meant to do it. Once you start dancing, this resistance will instantly be transformed into motivation, passion, and determination.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher and writer.
When you just think about something a lot and for a very long time it just re-establishes itself in your head as being huge, scary, difficult to endeavor, when it actually is not. The moment you start doing something, as small as that thing is, the intimidation will start disappearing with time.
So, is age just a number in dancing?
Yes, age is just a number. Dance is one of the many ways to express your emotions and celebrate. Stop thinking much and start dancing.
Fun fact - World's oldest Ballerina, Madame Suzelle Poole. At the age of 79, she still teaches, choreographies and performs ballet.
Ballet is known to be one of the hardest forms of dance to learn as it takes a heavy toll on your body with numerous risks of injuries, especially on your toes. You have to maintain your diet and remember all the steps. Madame Suzelle Poole gives us an example that age is nothing but just a number in dance. The average age of retirement in ballet is 35. Suzelle was born in 1940 during the time of World War 2. At the age of 10, she started to perform professionally.