What to do about sports and other activities

As you know, at AED we endorse students participating in other activities! Youth is a precious time with oodles of opportunities....and we have dancers participating in crazy fun activities all over Chittenden County and beyond. Some children focus on only one thing, some do a gazillion...the point is to be realistic as to the consequences of choices. As a dance studio who takes training seriously, we want all of our dancer's experiences with us to be successful and joyful.

So what to do? How can we maintain a studio where classes make continual progress and do not have to back track (in order to catch students up to speed because they were involved in another opportunity?) It is unfair to those who come consistently to dance class to have to stop their momentum.

Here are several things we recommend.

1. Come to a dance class during your other activity that works for your schedule. If soccer is on Tuesdays and you dance on Tuesdays, figure out with Martina which class you can substitute during soccer season.
   
2. You may have to take some extra classes when you get back from your sport to catch up with your peers...and some of the classes may be with a level lower than you....but that's ok!!!! That is part of dancing with a studio that makes progress! You don't want to dance at a place where they have learned nothing in the 2 months you missed! Work hard, catch up, and enjoy the rest of the year!!!
   
3. Be realistic and prioritize. If your heart is set on Varsity at all costs...that is definitely where you need to put your emphasis!  Just know that for someone else, dance is their Varsity, and they are not slowing down their pace. They may move up faster than you, they may get a role you dreamed of...that's ok!!! We all have our own priorities! One reason AED was started was to have a place where dancers work hard, at their own pace, while supporting each other's decisions.
   
4. Amazingly, there are the rare birds who can do it all, and do it all successfully. If you are not one of them, you are actually like all the rest of us humans, and you are wonderful just as you are! Sigh....oh well. We will have to be super human some other way :)