Here’s a fun fact for you: In dance class, it is common etiquette for students to applaud after groups practice combinations or a student is asked to demonstrate. This show of appreciation is a class custom across the entire dance world! Dancers gain motivation by being able to watch and learn from each other. At Liberty Dance Center, this classroom tradition of recognizing effort is part of our dance DNA!
Similarly, when a student achieves a goal—however big or small—we want to celebrate their success and encourage their classmates to do the same. A dancer’s goal might have been accomplishing that clean double pirouette in jazz class or earning their pointe shoes. Or it might have been achieving acceptance to a particular summer intensive or being cast in a specific role in the school musical. We love to promote cheering them on!
Sometimes, however, we notice that when a student reaches a goal, there are other students who feel as though they’ll never get there themselves; that their own potential to succeed is limited because of someone else’s success. But when it comes to achievement, nothing could be further from the truth! Everyone’s light shines brighter if they choose to see someone else’s achievement as a possibility for themselves. Science actually tells us that more success happens when we encourage each other and celebrate those wins.
Celebration Increases Success
Shawn Achor, researcher and author of the book Big Potential, writes:
“Simply celebrating a person or a team for their companionship, their strengths, their everyday contributions—no matter how small or seemingly insignificant—reinforces a more empowered self-image and helps them see a vivid image of themselves as someone who is worthy of happiness and success.”
This empowered self-image is what we’re all about at Liberty Dance Center. We want dance to be the catalyst that propels our students forward in life—but it takes more than just the steps to make that happen, of course. Dance can serve this mission only when combined with an ecosystem of positive culture, resilient kids, supportive teachers, and accountability.
We want to help our students understand that lifting each other up is beneficial for everyone, not just the person who is in the spotlight at that moment. Everyone’s potential rises when we choose to celebrate each other’s success! Through dance, and through each other’s wins, our students can see that each one of them has the power to achieve new goals.
It’s affirming to see the scientific proof that being interconnected with each other, within our studio ecosystem, allows our students to thrive in dance and in life. And we will continue to encourage this interconnectivity with the way our dancers complement each other’s strengths and work as a team during class. As Achor says in his book, pursuing greater potential and achieving success must not be a solo journey: “The conclusion of a decade of research is clear: It’s not faster alone; it’s better together.”
We couldn’t agree more, and we’re proud to raise up our dancers with this mindset!
(this post was republished from October 2019)
