Feelin’ the pain…

*I originally posted this meme on the blog on April 9, 2020. Now that the year has officially concluded, it’s a good time to reflect on 2020 as a whole, and how it affected the competitive dance world.

True story:  The first time I posted this meme, it was on my Facebook page.  A few people shared it publicly (which I absolutely love, by the way), so I started perusing through the reactions those shared posts were getting.  Typically, the comments were in agreement with the sentiment in the meme – the season was looking to be a bust, and dance families were frustrated, sad, and dejected over the loss. 

A Different Perspective

One comment, however, stood out above all of the rest to me.  A dance studio owner had weighed in, and had expressed that the meme made her feel a bit insulted.  As I read over the first part of her comment, my eyebrows shot up and I exclaimed, “What?!”  I mean, how could she not understand that all of us dance families were feeling the pain of a lost dance season, and all of the dollars that came with it?  But then I read on, and she made an excellent point that I had not yet considered.  She explained that she didn’t consider the money lost; rather, it was invested into finding new ways to deliver instruction and connect with her students.  Setting up an area to broadcast the lessons to her students over Zoom required a bit of preparation.  For example, she increased her studio’s WiFi speed, bought a large backdrop, added lighting, purchased a Zoom subscription, and paid assistant instructors to come in to help not only with the setup but on the days of the instruction.  She also bought goody bags to deliver to each student’s house, including a customized, quarantine-themed t-shirt to wear during some classes.  In other words, she went above and beyond.

After reading about the lengths she was going to, I admit that I felt pretty badly.  I hadn’t meant to insult anyone, or to diminish the importance of everything that dance studio owners had been doing to persevere through the crisis.  For a hot second, I thought about taking the meme down entirely.

But Then I Reconsidered

Yes, I felt (and still feel) badly for the studio owners and teachers that were going to great lengths to maintain some sense of normalcy for their students.  But then I thought about the dance families that I personally knew, and others from around the country that had shared their stories.  For so many, the 2019-2020 season was to be their kid’s last year in dance for a variety of reasons (financial considerations, high school seniors, other extracurricular activities, serious injuries, etc.).  These folks did not get the return on the investment that they had anticipated, so in those cases, the second half of the year had mostly been a wash.  Despite the most herculean of efforts, no dance studio owner could change that.  Naturally, those dancers (and their families) felt cheated, and there was really no one in particular to focus their anger on.  

It’s Okay to Feel Cheated

So if you feel angry, frustrated, disappointed, or anything else, guess what?  That’s okay.  You are entitled to all of these emotions and then some because, no matter how you slice it, we didn’t get what we paid for in 2020.  There is really nothing to do except to look at the lessons we learned (see Bye 2020), and apply them in the future. We can applaud the professionals who worked tirelessly to maintain the connection (see Keeping the Connection) with their students, and teach our kids that we sometimes don’t get what we expected.  

Here’s hoping that 2021 will bring better times!

Work hard, have fun! – Danielle