Want to be a pro dancer!

[shufflin_rollin]

Hi! 

 

(I've just written up my story on my profile, but I decided I would share it here as well. Thanks for reading!) 

 

I'm pretty lucky to have found a huge passion in my life - swing dancing. Over the past three years I've been nearing the end of my undergraduate degree in Media Production - which I still love - but I've come to realise that I'd really like to work in an industry that supports my health and my love of dancing. 

 

I've only been dancing for two years - in high school I was very much into visual arts, drama, and english - but never had any physical activity as a hobby. In fact I hated sport and exercise and would decidedly avoid it. Dancing is the first time I've found an activity that I love so much and can still be creative, but to be really good at it I need to be athletic as well. 

 

My dream is to travel and compete at a professional level in the next 5 years, and to have people believe that I've been a dancer all my life. Huge call but I think I can do it. 

 

So far I've already been taking steps - I'm training with a swing dancing performance troupe 2x per week, I've really changed my diet over the past couple of years and have worked hard to educate myself on nutrition. I currently work at a health foods store part time (which I love!!), am almost paleo, and have just started lifting this year. 

 

My current goals are to:

 

1. Go completely paleo at some point 

2. Squat and deadlift my own bodyweight

3. Do a full chin-up

4. Flexibility -  Do the side spilts 

5. Educate myself about exercise, strength, and fitness!

 

My ultimate goal is to decrease my body fat and build muscle, to have the capacity of strength and fitness required to be a professional/competitive dancer, and to have developed sustainable habits that will carry my health through life. 

 

Would love to make friends with anyone on a similar journey! 

 

[Noname123]

Welcome welcome! 

 

Any plans on achieving your goals? Based on your pics you look like you're already in a pretty good spot weight wise, is there a specific bodyfat percent you're aiming for? Body-fat decrease will likely be diet focused, however muscle building I can only give advice from the strength training aspect of things, I'm not sure if dancers have specific things they do for both mobility and strength but I'm sure you'll find a number of them here  

[shufflin_rollin]

Welcome welcome! 

 

Any plans on achieving your goals? Based on your pics you look like you're already in a pretty good spot weight wise, is there a specific bodyfat percent you're aiming for? Body-fat decrease will likely be diet focused, however muscle building I can only give advice from the strength training aspect of things, I'm not sure if dancers have specific things they do for both mobility and strength but I'm sure you'll find a number of them here

 

Thank you! 

 

I'm fairly happy with my weight at the moment - I'm 61kg and have long stopped caring about the number on the scale so long as I can improve my body composition. To be honest I don't actually know what body fat percentage I should aim for, nor do I have an accurate way of measuring it. I did have some body fat scales but they stopped working, and I bought some cheap callipers a while ago but couldn't figure out how to get an accurate result from them. I think my gym has body fat scales though - I can ask one of the trainers there to measure it for me? Perhaps they could also give me some advice of a percentage to aim for. 

 

Currently I'm meal prepping paleo meals each week (as I cannot stand calorie counting of any kind!), so instead I'm focussing on eating very clean foods and weight training 3 times per week. I can't see any visual results yet, but I have been able to achieve some fitness goals (i.e going from not being able to do full push ups to being able to do 10 in a row). A few friends have said that I've lost weight and even though I can't see it I must be making some sort of progress! 

 

My main goals for NF is to track and see my own progress, and to get more resources on how to train and eat for further results. 

[Basement Cat]

Welcome to the rebellion!

 

Ooh, swing dancing! That's neat! Good luck with your goals and keep us posted!

[Noname123]

If it helps at all I find those fat gauging devices to be wildly off- they're within about 7 percent of where you are but that's a pretty big range. For example, 4 weeks ago the one at the gym pegged me at 21.5 percent. A week later I was 15.5. Wut. I'm pretty sure I'm somewhere in the middle but those don't really help gauge it. 

 

To track it steadily (though slowly!) I use the a couple of online calcs that use height, weight and measurements (tape measure is my bff). To figure out goal wise I'd look at a few dancers you really admire and see if you can figure out about where they are to give you an end goal to start working towards!

[shufflin_rollin]

If it helps at all I find those fat gauging devices to be wildly off- they're within about 7 percent of where you are but that's a pretty big range. For example, 4 weeks ago the one at the gym pegged me at 21.5 percent. A week later I was 15.5. Wut. I'm pretty sure I'm somewhere in the middle but those don't really help gauge it. 

 

To track it steadily (though slowly!) I use the a couple of online calcs that use height, weight and measurements (tape measure is my bff). To figure out goal wise I'd look at a few dancers you really admire and see if you can figure out about where they are to give you an end goal to start working towards!

Good advice!

 

I ended up getting one of the staff members at the gym to weight me on the body fat scales - came in at 25% and after a bit of research I've decided my goal is to reduce it to 5%. Of course I am using a combination of progress photos, tape measurements, and some goal pants that I want to fit into to track progress as well! Going to weigh in again in a month's time. Thanks for your help! 

[paulapalooza]

I saw the word dancer and came to this thread all excited and stuff. I'm a dancer, too! However, I'm no good when you throw a partner in there so we're in different universes here. Got even more excited when reading your story/goals. They're very similar to what I wanted to achieve when starting out (although I gave up on the paleo thing because the clean eating thing led me to have a disordered relationship with food). Good luck with your goals!

 

Also, I really dig your hair/smile/glasses/entire look in the attached pictures.

[DarK_RaideR]

I saw the word dancer and came to this thread all excited and stuff. I'm a dancer, too! However, I'm no good when you throw a partner in there so we're in different universes here. Got even more excited when reading your story/goals. They're very similar to what I wanted to achieve when starting out (although I gave up on the paleo thing because the clean eating thing led me to have a disordered relationship with food). Good luck with your goals!

 

Also, I really dig your hair/smile/glasses/entire look in the attached pictures.

^

This. All of it. Except being a dancer. I can bust a move alright, but no major dancing skills. Got a friend who's into lindy hop and trying to get me onboard, but honestly I don't see it happening anytime soon.

 

Glad to see the Ranger badge under your avatar. Are you planning to do a 6 Week Challenge? This one's on its last week, so you have plenty of time to prepare for the next one

[shufflin_rollin]

I saw the word dancer and came to this thread all excited and stuff. I'm a dancer, too! However, I'm no good when you throw a partner in there so we're in different universes here. Got even more excited when reading your story/goals. They're very similar to what I wanted to achieve when starting out (although I gave up on the paleo thing because the clean eating thing led me to have a disordered relationship with food). Good luck with your goals!

 

Also, I really dig your hair/smile/glasses/entire look in the attached pictures.

 

Omg excitement! Thank you so much! How are you going on your journey? What kind of dance do you do? LET'S BE FRIENDS! 

 

Haha would love to get some advice/hear what kind of training you do and how you fit it in with your dance schedule 

[shufflin_rollin]

^

This. All of it. Except being a dancer. I can bust a move alright, but no major dancing skills. Got a friend who's into lindy hop and trying to get me onboard, but honestly I don't see it happening anytime soon.

 

Glad to see the Ranger badge under your avatar. Are you planning to do a 6 Week Challenge? This one's on its last week, so you have plenty of time to prepare for the next one

 

Lindy Hop!! My immediate impulse is to say DO IT because it's brought me so much joy in my life, but of course, if it is not your thing then you do not have to take it up haha If you're on the fence, however - I would highly recommend giving it a go as it's a great way to meet people, have fun, challenge yourself, and exercise all without thinking about it too much. I love it! 

 

I hadn't actually looked into the 6 week challenge yet but now that you mention it I probably should, thank you! I may very well take part  

[DarK_RaideR]

You are breaking my heart with such words, miss. I am a Ranger. Rangers do ALL the things!

 

Challenge Instructions are here, for whenever you feel like checking them out. Next one begins June 8th

[oldnews]

Good luck on your awesome goals! I have a much less exciting dance-related goal of taking adult beginner ballet, and actually making it through a semester or two. I figure that is an easier way to right the wrongs of my childhood than having a kid and making them take ballet for my vicarious benefit...

[Why not?]

I ended up getting one of the staff members at the gym to weight me on the body fat scales - came in at 25% and after a bit of research I've decided my goal is to reduce it to 5%.

Just wondering, did you mean reduce it BY 5%? Because reducing it to 5% would actually put you below the threshold of how much fat your body requires for optimal function (even female bodybuilders don't often go below roughly 9% for competition).

 

Anywho, welcome, Ranger!

[shufflin_rollin]

Just wondering, did you mean reduce it BY 5%? Because reducing it to 5% would actually put you below the threshold of how much fat your body requires for optimal function (even female bodybuilders don't often go below roughly 9% for competition).

 

Anywho, welcome, Ranger!

 

Oh hahaha - I definitely meant reduce it BY 5%! That was an unfortunate typo... But thank you for your concern nonetheless  

[shufflin_rollin]

Good luck on your awesome goals! I have a much less exciting dance-related goal of taking adult beginner ballet, and actually making it through a semester or two. I figure that is an easier way to right the wrongs of my childhood than having a kid and making them take ballet for my vicarious benefit...

Thank you!

 

And that sounds awesome - I feel like there is such a stigma attached to ballet as well, like you have to start it when you're 5 years old otherwise it's too late. I definitely don't think that's the case - it should be treated like any other sport, any other skill that will take time and improve with practice. Good on you! I look forward to hearing how it goes  

[shufflin_rollin]

You are breaking my heart with such words, miss. I am a Ranger. Rangers do ALL the things!

 

Challenge Instructions are here, for whenever you feel like checking them out. Next one begins June 8th

 

Hahah consider it noted! I'm glad you're willing to give it a go! If you ever need any resources or have any questions about it, my threshold for talking about dancing has no end! 

 

And if you feel like inspiration, this is one of my all time favourite lindy hop videos - 

 

Enjoy! And I'll be sure to check out the challenge - love the concept  

[DarK_RaideR]

And if you feel like inspiration, this is one of my all time favourite lindy hop videos

*Looks at video title*

*Looks at your user name*

I could never tell...

 

Those are some impressive legs... I mean, legwork... footwork! Skills! That's the word...

[shufflin_rollin]

*Looks at video title*

*Looks at your user name*

I could never tell...

 

Those are some impressive legs... I mean, legwork... footwork! Skills! That's the word...

 

Hahahah... That's embarrassing - I didn't even realise! Oh well, I guess it's a testament to how much I love that video! 

 

And yes - she is incredibly talented... all of the above  

[Why not?]

*Looks at video title*

*Looks at your user name*

I could never tell...

 

Those are some impressive legs... I mean, legwork... footwork! Skills! That's the word...

[mediaguy99]

Hey, welcome to NF!  Great place to track one's goals.  I look forward to seeing what you put up in the newbie challenge section for the next challenge!  I used to be a swing dancer--taught, ran events, brought in national level instructors, etc, but that was in the nascent days of the modern swing revival of the late 90's through mid-2000's.  It's a great time for sure!  I'm mostly doing aerial dance (trapeze, hoop, rope etc) now, but I still go out occasionally... the kiddo in my life takes a lot of time these days.

 

I don't recognize the dancers but they're terrific.  Some of the breaks and turns just make me super happy to see....

[shufflin_rollin]

Hey, welcome to NF!  Great place to track one's goals.  I look forward to seeing what you put up in the newbie challenge section for the next challenge!  I used to be a swing dancer--taught, ran events, brought in national level instructors, etc, but that was in the nascent days of the modern swing revival of the late 90's through mid-2000's.  It's a great time for sure!  I'm mostly doing aerial dance (trapeze, hoop, rope etc) now, but I still go out occasionally... the kiddo in my life takes a lot of time these days.

 

I don't recognize the dancers but they're terrific.  Some of the breaks and turns just make me super happy to see....

That's awesome - so glad to hear from a fellow swing dancer! 

 

Thanks for the welcome Will be sure to post in the newbie challenge forum in a couple of days! 

[lumlumsayz]

you had me at dancer!  I love to dance and look forward to your future success!  

[paulapalooza]

Omg excitement! Thank you so much! How are you going on your journey? What kind of dance do you do? LET'S BE FRIENDS! 

 

Haha would love to get some advice/hear what kind of training you do and how you fit it in with your dance schedule 

 

I do all sorts of dance from contemporary to hip hop. By that I mean I just mostly do contemporary and hip hop. Here's an example: 

(shameless self promotion)

 

When I'm at school, I have 8 hours of practice per week and lift 3 times a week. There is no trick to fitting training with dancing besides just doing all of it and complaining about the sheer volume of physical activity every once in a while. As for training, I follow Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 routine. As for advice, mine is just to be consistent. Results happen with consistency.