Today we have a guest post. Please join me in welcoming Stephanie Wolf to 4dancers. Stephanie and I met on Twitter when we were talking about a particular quote. I asked if she would expand on it a bit from her perspective, and she kindly agreed to make the time..

 

“Talent is cheap; dedication is expensive. It will cost you your life.” – Irving Stone

 At the age of 14, I knew I wanted to be a dancer. From that moment forward, my life changed forever.

Stone speaks of art as a calling, not as a choice in life. In his novel The Agony and the Ecstasy, he fictionalizes the trials and tribulations of the great sculptor and painter Michelangelo, using him as a vessel to convey this very sentiment. People possessing an artist’s soul and not simply an aptitude for art, will pour everything he or she has into it.

Passion is a beautiful thing, but be careful of its power. It can become all consuming. Driven by my own passion for dance, it was impossible to separate the professional from the personal. It was all intertwined, unclear where one ended and the other began.

For over twenty years, my dedication to ballet cost me many aspects of my life. Long rehearsals, runs of performances, and hours on the tour bus sometimes left me crabby and too tired to be social. Most often, those closest to me were also in the profession, and we could commiserate together about our aches and professional heartaches. I had many close and wonderful friends, but my romantic ventures were often tempered by my obsession with ballet. [Read more…]