Thread: Learning: are we ever done?

Ive seen a lot of professional dancers reach a certain level and just stop training. It sort of bums me out because I feel like there is only so much they can progress after that.

To me a dancer's training is never finished. I feel that our skills can always evolve and improve as long as we have passion for the dance and a willingness to learn. I do think there are exceptions to this (really top dancers/teachers) but even some of them are always adding new things and changing it up a little.

I just want to hear some other dancer's opinions on this. Is there a point at which you have nothing left to learn or no reason to learn new things?

I agree - we are never done. I think this is true for all things in life - people can't stop learning and growing.

I suppose in some places, you might outgrow your own teacher and be forced to do training on your own with DVDs supplemented with travelling to workshops - but I don't think a professional dancer is ever done learning new things.

I feel so lucky where I live to have a lot of great teachers - many people to learn from and not enough time to do it all in.

there's ALWAYS something new to learn (or even something old!), no matter how long you've been dancing :)

In a dance form that has movement origins that may have started before written history- how can I have learned everything there is in 25 years or even 50 years?
I feel that there is no end to how much one can learn. :)
In fact, I think an artist must continue to learn and grow in order to stay "fresh".
...and as Nepenthe said- as human beings we must keep growing and learning, so not just in our art.

I agree with everyone here. Ongoing training is extremely important. There is always something new to learn, always.

Yes, at some point we are done learning. We're also dead.

The day I think there's nothing more for me to learn about this dance form is the day I'll quit. How boring would that be?

Zumarrad - I almost wrote something like "the day you stop learning is that the day that you're old." I think you said it even better.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Yes, at some point we are done learning. We're also dead.

Zumarrad, your post really sounds like what Ibrahim Farrah used to say: "When you feel like you've stopped learning and know everything, just go ahead to the funeral home, because your life is over..."

Latifa

Agree with everyone, there is always more to learn no matter how much you know. In fact I find that the more you know, the more you know about what you don't know.* Sometimes it's a bit overwhelming.

Also just because you don't see some of the pros continuing their education doesn't mean they are no longer on the learning continuum - maybe they are pursuing other avenues.

You can tell the ones that don't because they are stuck in a time warp.

*it's scarily close to what a certain president said but i actually think what he said made sense that time. you do need to know what you don't know in order to eventually know ...

[QUOTE=jilyan;243567]Agree with everyone, there is always more to learn no matter how much you know. In fact I find that the more you know, the more you know about what you don't know.* Sometimes it's a bit overwhelming."

That's how I feel. I went back to bellydancing feeling like I already knew alot, and figured out pretty quickly that what I knew was a drop in the bucket. I feel now, fours years into round two, that there is about a 1/2" of water on the bottom of the bucket.

also, I do the webpage for my local homeschooling group, and one of my favorite little tasks is to find a good quote that sums up our philosophy for the homepage. This one is one of the best I've found, and damn, it's Eartha Kitt.

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma - Eartha Kitt

I'm going to guess for the real pros that it becomes harder to find people to learn from, but I believe they still have things to learn. Maybe they don't take classes as frequently or perhaps figured out other ways to learn.

I have been belly dancing for 27 years, and I still have a lot to learn. I try to look at what I already know, identify areas where I would like to know more, identify teachers who have the skill to provide that knowledge, and then seek them out.

I, too, feel that one is never done learning.

Originally Posted by SamiraShuruk

In a dance form that has movement origins that may have started before written history- how can I have learned everything there is in 25 years or even 50 years?
I feel that there is no end to how much one can learn. :)
In fact, I think an artist must continue to learn and grow in order to stay "fresh".
...and as Nepenthe said- as human beings we must keep growing and learning, so not just in our art.

Word.

My first instructor always said that no one can call themselves a "bellydancer" after a few beginner classes because a real bellydancer knows that there's a lifetime of knowledge in the dance and is always a student in one way or another.

[quote=loloup;243596]

Originally Posted by jilyan

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma - Eartha Kitt

Wow, I love that!

To echo others, how can you ever stop learning about anything? Once, in class, a dancer who was a popular restaurant dancer in our area told me that she no longer took workshops because she knew it all already. You could have knocked me over, I was so shocked.

In general, I have spoken to more than a few dancers who work in restaurants and feel that they no longer need to take regular classes or go to workshops because, look, they dance in restaurants now! As if that was the pinnacle of a belly dance career. ..cr.:

(And I have nothing against dancing in restaurants, I do myself, but I have no illusions of a glamorous life of restaurant work.)

one of my professors said once that wisdom involves understanding how much you have left to learn. i believe that is true in dance as well as anything else of substance.

one of my professors said once that wisdom involves understanding how much you have left to learn. i believe that is true in dance as well as anything else of substance.

I was told a similar one that I think can sort of be translated to dance. It went:

When you have your undergraduate degree you think you know everything, when you have your Masters you think you know something, when you have a PhD you know you know NOTHING

Not quite the same, but you get the sentiment.

I am always wary of people in any context who say that they have 'finished learning/don't need to learn any more'

No we don't and teachers who don't carry on learning are committing a crime aginst their students.

Yay! I love when threads are harmonious.

Originally Posted by lizajuk

No we don't and teachers who don't carry on learning are committing a crime aginst their students.

I AGREE COMPLETELY! It drives me nuts.

Originally Posted by *Shira*

I have been belly dancing for 27 years, and I still have a lot to learn. I try to look at what I already know, identify areas where I would like to know more, identify teachers who have the skill to provide that knowledge, and then seek them out.

Isn't it amazing when you tot up the years? I've been dancing since I was four years old... first ballet, then ballroom, then ballet again, then tap, then modern, then ballet again then belly dance. I've had time out of course, to have a baby etc...but that's around 49 years.....Erk!!!

Originally Posted by kharis_UK

Isn't it amazing when you tot up the years? I've been dancing since I was four years old... first ballet, then ballroom, then ballet again, then tap, then modern, then ballet again then belly dance. I've had time out of course, to have a baby etc...but that's around 49 years.....Erk!!!

And yes, I'm still learning.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Yes, at some point we are done learning. We're also dead.

i totally agree

I don't think we ever stop learning anything, dance or otherwise.

However, I want on my tombstone, 'The world will be a very great deal less weird without you'.

I wish some of my troupe members would read this and take it to heart.

it's often the people who think they already know it all that could benefit the most from a little more instruction and practice. ;) a friend of mine was in a workshop where a local hotshot was taking the class, too, and said hotshot made some giggly comment like "ooh, it's so funny to be a STUDENT again" (the subtext being "since I already know everything so I don't really need to be here). har. when I heard that I just rolled my eyes...

at about 10 years into my dancing I was pretty successful (in my opinion at the time) - I had tons of work, was dancing at all the hot clubs, was getting lots of compliments and local recognition. and I wasn't taking any classes or workshops. partly because of finances, partly because I was at a level that I was happy with, but mostly because I was a fool and didn't know better. oh, the workshops I missed! oh, the opportunities to learn, lost! oh, the delay in my dance development! oh, the amazing dancer I could be today if I would have worked harder, sooner!

after 20 years, it's so true: back then I felt like I knew a lot; now I'm overwhelmed by what I don't know. yet at the same time I'm totally stoked on the lifetime of opportunity I have ahead of me, filled with the possibility of learning more and more and more.

I am always learning. Still more to learn.when Every class/workshop I take I learn something. A new combo, technique style etc. Variety is the spice of life. Worth every penny spent.
I now do privates and workshops funds permitting. but I am at the point I have certain things I need to learn more,refresh basics,improve weak spots in my dance. I don't think I'll ever be done learning. there is so much more I don't know and want to learn.

Alrana

You can always learn. Problem can be finding the right teachers. But they are out there. Every year Maria brings out Egyptian teachers - usually with over 40 years experience - to Brisbane for a week (see Winter Warmup ). Many of the students there have over 15 years experience themselves.

If I ever get to the point where it is all obvious, I guess I could look at some other styles - Turkish perhaps or AmCam. But there is always something to learn.

I don't think I'd ever be done learing. Nor would I want to.