Last week was dance recital week for our household.  Because I own a dance store and because I am a die-hard proponent of everyone finding their own space on the dance floor the week usually takes on a Christmas like series of festivities.  My dance teachers, growing up,  played such a unique roll in my life and so many life lessons were learned on the dance floor.

Some dance teachers are strict with barre work and technique.  Some dance teachers are big on stretching and warming up.  Some dance teachers expect you to come to class warmed up and ready to work.  Some dance teachers can stand next to you and tell me what I need to hear,  Some stand next to me and expect me to be out of my head present on the floor leaving the drama behind and never to revisit. 

Life happens and there is huge gratitude from me that a consistent thing in my ever changing teenager world was the dance class that was on Monday at 7 pm.  I am convinced that the teenage phase of my life was so topsy-turvy that there was a great benefit to finding my center and resting in myself and the movement I could make. 

It has been really encouraging to watch so many little ballerinas find their place on the dance floor, guided by their teachers, and watched by their piers. 

During recital week I am usually taken back to memory lane of my own performances or experiences. preparing for the recital senior year of dance was packed with routines like the normal graduate.  One of the dances that I had been working on was a routine with a magenta sequined dress and chairs. Let me tell you that I didn't dance with props often but when I did I danced with a metal chair that made a ginormous metal sound when it is dropped on the floor.  

let me set the scene:
Center stage, Dropped,  Bang. Use the next 6 beat count to pick up the chair turn it around, open it, and sit down on it.

And just like that the chair was dropped and in the past.  I had recovered.  Everyone knew what happened.  Everyone saw the fall and then the recovery that followed. And me,......I learned the lesson to "Keep Going" which I have found to be a utilized skill in every day.

Whats wrong with being confident?  Nothing.  Whats wrong with making a mistake center stage for everyone to see?  I have looked high and low for a copy of my legendary folly on video with no success.  I was so ashamed by mistake for years until recently. Now I realize how absolutely prepared for life I am because of this one lesson and often use it as a metaphor for life.

Whether its a chair falling, A scary health diagnosis, a blip in parenting judgment, a humbling career mistake...... All of those things can come at you with a moments notice and dance has taught me that it isnt the chair that has dropped that is the most important,  Instead its the 6 beats that follow and how I make each beat count in the recovery.

When life has no redo.  When chairs are flying and your destiny is unfortunate, loud, and the whole world is watching, keep going.  Pick up the damn chair and keep dancing.  Life is to short to not make the performance count.