Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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May 7, 2007

Blogging Lessons I Learned in Dancing School

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 1:55 pm

One-and-a-Two

ballerina bag via morguefile.com

I learned these lessons about blogging in dancing school, when I was a wee thing.

  1. Looking in the mirror can be distracting.

  2. When I try to be someone else, I’m not graceful.

  3. Expression isn’t much, if I don’t know what I’m doing.

  4. Stuff that looks easy sure takes practice to do well.

  5. Smile.

My dance teacher was brilliant.

The World Wide Web didn’t even exist then.

–ME “Liz” Strauss





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24 Comments to “Blogging Lessons I Learned in Dancing School”

  1. May 7th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
    Mihaela Lica said

    Looking in the mirror can be distracting?
    Mmmmm… what are you looking at? :)

    “When I try to be someone else, I’m not graceful.” - I like that!

  2. May 7th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Mihaela!
    I was looking at the dancer behind me, of course. :)

  3. May 7th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
    Mike said

    Hey Liz,

    When I was rehearsing a father-daughter number for a recital years ago, the instructors let us face the mirror when we first learned combinations, but we had to face away from the mirror when it was time to see if we knew the whole dance! That’s when peripheral vision comes in REAL handy!

    Mike

  4. May 7th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
    Lorelle said

    I had over 20 years of ballet and dance training and this brought back so many memories. One of the “blogging” lessons I learned is how to know when to be a part of the chorus, and when to stand out from the crowd.

    The requirement and training was to blend in, be one of the marching lines, to not stand out. Standing out was BAD and, with the wrong teacher, rewarded with a slap of a long stick. But in order to make the prima ballerina role, you had to stand out. You had to distinguish yourself from the rest which still functioning as an automaton.

    This was probably where I learned that it is who you know not what you know that can make you stand out from the rest. By befriending the teacher and the other students, and rehearsing long and hard to get it “righter” than anyone else, I stood out because people liked me while pointing to me as an example of “right”.

    It didn’t mean I was better, but it meant I worked harder, and hard “visible” work pays off when people like you. It’s a fine line to walk, though.

    Blogging, I know I’m no better than anyone else. I just blog what I blog but I do it to the very best of my ability. I link to those I want to know and work on getting to know them, making friends with others leading the industry. I just keep working as hard as I can to be the best that I can, and that gets noticed.

    I’m certainly not a prima dona blogger. If anything, I’m one of the crowd, but I think I stand out from the crowd because I work hard and know what I blog about.

    Oh, and dancing taught me to stand still for long periods of time while the prima ballerina did her thing. Now I sit for long periods of time while my fingers do their thing. ;-)

  5. May 7th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hey Mike!
    That is so cool that you danced with your daughter. :)

    I bet you learned to snap your head too!

  6. May 7th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Now there is a poster . . .


    It didn’t mean I was better, but it meant I worked harder, and hard “visible” work pays off when people like you. It’s a fine line to walk, though. –LVF

    An amazing, profound statement.

  7. May 7th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
    Eduardo said

    whatever you do remember this….

    Smile, it looks really good on you!

    At least you’ll look good doing it!

    Truthteller site
    http://www.reddeerblog.com

  8. May 7th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Eduardo,
    A smile is a great calling card. It can’t help but get folks to take a look. :)

  9. May 7th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
    GP said

    Proving yet again, life’s a dance you learn as you go. Sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow.

    GP in Montana who had a synchonrous dance with Picken earlier:)

  10. May 7th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hey GP,
    Same in blogging too — sometimes you say things; sometimes you listen. :)

    Liz in Chicago who had a conversation with more than one blogger today. :)

  11. May 7th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
    Armen said

    With the increase in the number of bloggers, #4 is definately one more people should be aware of.

    Sure anyone can write…yeah right!

  12. May 7th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Armen,
    Yep! It’s like playing the guitar, or making room for a community, it all takes time and practice to make things look easy. :)

    You write well. How long did it take? When do you think you will be done learning? :)

  13. May 7th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
    candice said

    Ballet also teaches one to take corrections gracefully, and appreciate them.

    Also, one of my teachers down here says, “Always get all the way to the end, no matter what you do, because that’s what the audience remembers.”

  14. May 7th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Candice,
    Good point about taking corrections. Yes indeed. I remember a few of those.

    And get to the end . . . that’s right up there with “when you fall, get up and dance some more.” :)

  15. May 7th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
    candice said

    Somewhere in the RIT film school project archives there is video of me doing that, in a red leotard, hung over, on a saturday morning in Company Class. I got made an example of for doing the right thing, continuing on after totally failing to do a handstand.

    (I manage, on average, two to three handstands a year, and that was not one of them.)

  16. May 7th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Candice,
    Handstands were not one of my grandest tricks — I say it’s because of my higher center of gravity . . . when you’re tall you can blame a lot of stuff on that. :)

  17. May 8th, 2007 at 6:21 am
    Alina Popescu said

    Hi Liz,

    This post triggered some really great memories. I took dancing and ballet lessons for about 6 years when I was really young. It mostly taught me about love (my mom’s who was sewing outfits for me until late at night, my teacher’s - we all hugged and kissed her when we came and when we left).

    But the lessons you mention are all important. learning to smile was my personal favorite. :)

  18. May 8th, 2007 at 6:26 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Alina,
    So glad to see you’re still around!

    You’re not just a thinker, but also a dancer. That’s a such brilliant combination, especially to gain that grace as a young child.

    Dance is about love, isn’t it? I sure self-consciousness when I begin to dance. I cannot be inside myself dancing and worry about the outside world too. I just have to give it my best.

    Smile was the hardest lesson for me, I think. I so wanted my smile to be real.

  19. May 8th, 2007 at 10:39 am
    Mike said

    Liz,

    No head snapping. Insurance wouldn’t cover it.

    Mike

  20. May 8th, 2007 at 10:42 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Mike,
    I guess that rules out the chance you wer doing the tango. :)

  21. May 8th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
    Mike said

    No. It was a jazz number, so no rose thorns in the teeth either. ;-)

  22. May 8th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Mike,
    I’m actually glad to hear about the missing rose in the teeth. :)

  23. May 8th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
    Armen said

    To be honest Liz, I don’t have a lot of confidence in my writing, which ironically, is one of the main reasons I write.

    As I’m sure you’re well aware too, if one has any desire to improve in any area of life, they will never go beyond having to learn. In fact, to live is to learn.

  24. May 8th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Armen,
    I practice what I want to know, as you do. I practice what I want to know better as well. I practice what I want to be. Practice is what most of my life is about. Each time I hope to do just that much better than the last so that that the one before fades by comparison.

    It is living to learn. Yes. I so agree. :)

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