Learning To Dance: The Case for Trying New Things

Dancing is one of those talents that people seem to be innately born with; we're divided into two different categories of being naturally able to move — or not. In all senses of the word, I am a klutz. I am not a fantastic dancer, never able to grasp the concepts of shoulder rolls or hip rotations, and I'm the least flexible person of all time.

I am, however, restless. My body is seemingly incapable of sitting still. I'll do circles in my room when I'm thinking about something or I'll spontaneously get the urges to go on runs. My self-regulation of my pent-up energy got so bad that this year I decided to join a hip-hop dance team, despite having no formal dance experience. All my "dance experience" amounted to doing two culture shows, and while it gave me a good idea of what to expect with auditioning, I wasn't exactly sure how to do anything else. The deck stacked against me, I decided to try out, and my effort and energy was the deciding factor that got me in, not how experienced I was. I would have never gotten in if I hadn’t taken the plunge.

So why dance? Why would I join a club for something that I'm not remotely good at? Should I not play to my strengths? These are all great points, and I thought the same way until I actually took the leap. In every other aspect of my life, playing to my strengths is usually the case, but you need a wild card activity for the hell of it. I think the lesson here is that people have these pre-conceived notions of what they think they're capable of, and completely rule out doing certain things before even giving them a shot.