One of the things that I love about dance is how it relates to so much else in life! Dance is life! So many things we learn in ballet class teach us great life lessons. And occasionally I learn great lessons from other aspects of life to take with me into ballet class.

What I learned from writing a dissertation that relates to ballet class:

1.  Patience. A PhD is not earned in a day. It takes years of work – hard work, long hours, sometimes it’s even painful and emotional. No one learns to dance in a few lessons. Learning to dance takes time. Patience is necessary to combat discouragement.

2.  Persistence. There will be failure. It’s not if, it’s when. If you give up with the first failure, there will be no success. Persistence is your good friend. Always keep going, that is the meaning of persistence.

3.  Balance. There is a time for work and there is a time for recovery. Some things require full-out no holds barred all out hard work. Then you rest. No one can work full-out all the time. Your body, soul, mind, and heart need time to recover. Balancing out work, play, and rest keep a PhD and a dancer in top form.

4.  Celebrations and Punishments. Never celebrate or punish yourself too recklessly. Never celebrate a win or punish a failure in ways that ultimately hurt you. Don’t eat too much, drink too much, or be mean to yourself as a prize or a punishment. Mistakes happen, there are always tons of things to learn and after all, it’s not the end of the world. Celebrate wins in ways that encourage more wins! Like a new leotard instead of a whole cake!

5.  Fun. I realize that I usually have a strange sense of what is fun but scholarly work has always been fun for me. That’s why I do it. Ballet is fun. It’s hard. Sweaty. Stinky. Frustrating sometimes. But it’s really really fun. Embrace the fun!

6.  Love. Always remember why you are doing what you are doing. I love my dissertation. It’s been a huge pain in my back-end but I do love it. I love ballet class. I will not spoil my love for ballet class with, well… anything. Don’t let bad thoughts, crazy expectations, other people’s stinky attitudes, come between you and your love for dance.

Dissertation Update: My advisor and committee are working on setting a defense date. In a phone call with my advisor from last week, “It’s going to be an easy defense.” From his lips to the PhD gods ears!

Ballet Class Update: I have to tape my foot every single day and I still have pain. I’m completely out of shape because I have indeed stressed too much and not remained balanced through these last few months of dissertating. Going back is going to be very hard and now I believe that I will need to research the benefits and problems of cortisone as a way to manage my permanent injury. One thing for sure, I will dance again.

Ever take those standardized tests that ask you ridiculous questions like polytheism is to mythology as socks are to ??? you are supposed to figure out the relationship and then apply that relationship to the next set of words. I always had a bad habit of getting caught up in the dynamics of the intended relationship and would spend too much time thinking about how the example words were NOT related. Also those questions like, if there are 6 lima beans to every 4 white beans to every 10 kidney beans in the bean salad, what amount of kidney beans would be required to create XX ratio – I’d always get caught up in the fact that I don’t eat bean salad, I don’t like it! Anyway back to the relationship questions… dissertation is to dance as…

I’m in the final throes of finishing my research work. It’s been a long time. The work has been exhilarating, exhausting, fun, stupid, intense, insane… there have been times that I had to sit and wait for responses and criticism, there have been times when I’ve been under some crazy deadlines and instructions, there have been times when everything was sinking fast, and there have been times when everything was just perfect and it felt like I could do no wrong. A few weeks ago, it felt like I was constantly punching against a heavy bag that was not moving, I had to keep on punching and the only thing happening was that I was bruised, exhausted, and sweaty. The heavy bag didn’t have a mark on it.

In scholarly work, you never finish learning – even when you have to begin teaching. You are always examining what you are doing, always receiving criticism and self-critisizing. Always examining and always finding fault in the mirror. When one work it done, you are expected to explain what additional work can continue from the work you just spent what feels like a lifetime completing. It’s never over. There are moments when you wish it was. But mostly you know that when dawn breaks and you’ve had a bit of rest, you want to go back at it anyway.

I work to classical music, I stop to watch ballet clips every now and again. I write wearing layers of sweaters and sweats, heavy rag socks, and a warmy blanket. Every now and then I pause to stretch standing up or on the floor. Sometimes I hop around to get the blood flowing and the heart rate up. I drink lots of water and warm things like coffee or tea. Sometimes I snack on fruit, dried or fresh, and a bit of protein, to keep my brain functioning. And sometimes I close my eyes to envision the flow, see the patterns in my mind, so that I can get a better understanding of where I am going and what I am doing and to remind myself to breathe. This is how I dissertate – this is how I dance.

Dissertating is to dance… yes, it is. For now, I must continue to dissertate because dance waits for me in the studio. I can still hear the music and my teacher’s voice. But today I write (in leg warmers).