What is RESILIENCE?

I love this definition by MaryRuth Ghiyam:

“Resilience is the ability to grow and adapt in the face of trauma, adversity, change or stress. It’s the capacity to power through a difficult experience and come out on the other side altered but still thriving.” (Ghiyam, 2021, p 262), emphasis mine.

How resilient are YOU?

What is it you aspire to? What do you define as YOUR “next level”? Multiple pirouettes? Greater jump height? Better stamina? Greater artistry in your port de bras? More flexibility? Deeper choreographic creativity? The courage or strength to overcome that pesky fear or habit holding you back?

I’ve been thinking lately about how FOCUS directs our DRIVE. When walking or driving we tend to veer wherever our eyes and head turn; in piques or chinese we will travel towards our spot; in pirouettes our fouettes we return to wherever our focus returns. In essence, our body’s direction follows the intent of our eyes. If our eyes are wavering or shifting in their focus, our body will waver and shift. If our eyes are sharply, intently “laser-focused” on something, our body will respond with precision. Interestingly, our mind’s attention similarly directs our thoughts, energy output and activities: if we are distracted or unsure, our thoughts follow suit, our energy is dispersed, and our actions are wayward. We drop into “auto-pilot” since our consciousness is not sufficiently steering the ship- which means we revert to anything habitual or “comforting” to our brains. This is fine during times of rest and relaxation, but NOT when we want to move to the next level of skill or artistry or personal development. As dancers we need to be looking for ways to improve our ability to FOCUS.

Balance…no, I don’t actually mean standing-on-one-leg balance, although I do intend to use it as a metaphor, so stay tuned! I’m talking about balance in our lives to optimize our productivity, our performance, our power, as well as our resilience, our recovery and our rejuvenation (yes, I mean becoming young again!). I have already written about REST, a key component for any dancer hoping to keep this up for a lifetime. But we must balance rest of body and mind with appropriate activity, nourishment and challenges in order to go to the next level.

Are you struggling to gather enough energy to give it your all in class? Do you feel exhaustion setting in halfway through a performance? Are you dragging yourself through the day? Do you find yourself craving sugar or caffeine or a nap just to get through the next activity? Or perhaps you are hoping to get that next level of power in your dancing, or more “edge” in your skill training? Believe it or not, developing ENERGY EFFICIENCY happens at a cellular level, and there are some scientifically proven methods to improve it.

I recently read an excellent book titled The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal , and just had to share! I believe this topic is of great value to us as dancers as we constantly seek higher heights of skill and deeper levels of artistry. You can of course read the book, but I have summarized it here for the benefit of those of you who need to devote your precious time to pursuits OTHER than reading every book on the neuro-science of our brains!

The good news is that the “creative” parts of our brain can be exercised, and it’s fun! Yes, it requires regular commitment, just like any other skill. But the reward is that when called upon to use this skill in your dance settings, you will encounter far less STRESS (an INHIBITOR to creativity), and be far more successful!

How can we as dancers honor our need to rest? Read on to learn some creative ways to restore your hard-working body and mind as a performing artist.