What Your Letting Yourself Into...

Welcome to Cuckcoo Land..

B-"Hi, I'm Bethany" L-"Yo I'm Luke" (saying it in a cool , confident way) L-"What do you do?" B-"I'm a dancer"L- "Oh really, that's pretty cool"B- "You have no idea.." Keeping my weird side at home on our first date he had no idea what he was getting himself in for..I still get this funny look from him confused if he should be laughing or weirded out what I just did.Overtime the 'normal' people get used to our strange behavior. Everyone knows people who are in the performing arts business are slightly weird and on another planet. Stereotypical I know, but there is clear evidence that we are not like 'normal' people and lets face facts we have more fun... Sometimes.. I thought I would do this post outlining what you expect when dating a dancer as a 'normal' person. Read carefully I beg, before you come part of this girls/boys crazy life.

10 Things You May Witness.

1.*Food Habits.

Let's start with going out for food. Now the dancer has been dancing all day usually or working out and her appetite has built up all day. Opening the menu and selecting a salad will be such a rare occasion. Even if they are stressing out and have to wear basically underwear on stage, a salad still speaks no piss off. Get that wallet ready for a dent. Starter, main and desert errmm yes are you dumb. My boyfriend is still amazed at how much I can eat. I even finish off his food sometimes and eat more than him. I have even agreed to a meatballs eating challenge at Ikea and I will win.. Just be prepared for the regret after and the potential crying when they have realized how much they have eaten and staring at the leotard in horror. They will get over it eventually when hunger strikes again. Another thing, dancers get hungry every few hours.. They burn off their food very quickly and need re-fueling. Grumpyness may occur if not fed immediately. They need to be watered regularly as well, lots of water means lots of pee pee time too! I spend my life in the toilet, a water baby just doesn't go down well when wearing a tight leotard. Once your in a leotard you are kinda trapped & don't want to take it off and on. Plus there's the sitting naked on the toilet.. but that's a separate issue.

2.*Wardrobe Issues.

Most of my wardrobe is leotards, tights and more leotards. We wear leotards all day everyday and once we have finished class the idea of comfy clothes is all we want. Term time can be a busy period therefore most of the time I don't get to go out out. Leaving my 'normal' persons wardrobe sparse. When my boyfriend sees me after college he gets the Hagrid hair look, with patchy make-up and joggers on. Mmm what a sight. Even if I wear a nice dress or skirt to go out, most of the time I have lovely purple bruises scattered on our legs looking like a bruiser. Niceeeee. Sandals and flip flops are risky as everyone knows dancers feet are just eww. Most of the time our toe nails are short and mushed from pointe work and to be honest I don't think the public will appreciate looking at battered feet therefore we are doing them a favor by wearing not feet showing shoes. Bras what are those? As dancers we live in crop tops and leotards so whats the need for a bra? The comfy life. Bras are so un- comfy and don't ever get worn so why waste money on them..

3.*Testing Flooring.

Walking seems to be an alien thing to a dancer. We spend our life learning to walk like a dancer, extended walks with a bit of hip movements to add some sass. Or the full on bad girl struts with tones of sass. These are no way normal ways of walking however dancers use these forms of walking way more than heel toe action. A full day of normal walking behavior can be hard for a dancers therefore you gotta give them some slack when they randomly do a turn or a row of pull backs. I personally enjoy places with hard floors like Tesco and Ikea to combine a normal walk with a few tap step heels and pick ups. They give off the best sound. Having a trolley is even more fun to work with, its like having a partner! Kitchen floors are another personal favorite. I have working tops which act as a ballet barre and the flooring is lino therefore perfect for sock turning. The worktop barre passes the time when waiting for food performing some balances and fouette turns. Any new place we will most defiantly test out the floor for turns, its a must as a dancer. Get used to dancing everywhere anytime.

4.*Sleeping Schedule.

Dancers are athletes. There is no arguing there. We will train all day and sometimes do extra classes and still have the energy to go to extra jobs and find time to see people. Power naps are dancers best friends. You could be talking to them one minute and the next they will be passed out asleep. No waking up the beast, rule number one. Half hour to an hour will do nicely and they are back ready to burn some more energy. Warning that they may wake up in that hyper mood. Yes that annoying mood when energy needs to be burnt. Be prepared for limbs flying everywhere uncontrollably and weird voices and sayings. The noise level will increase a lot and musical numbers with actions will be performed. Acting grumpy and getting annoyed will only feed more energy into this bundle of joy and may make them even more hyper. Although joining in with this silly act may make matters worse. You will have to asses the situation when it arises. Good luck! haha. Snap, Crackle and Pop will be the sounds you wake up to. Sleeping for 8 hours requires laying still. That's impossible for a dancer unless they are in a coma. e.g. sleeping or severally drunk. and I guess a food coma counts as well. Therefore when waking up its a sequence of stretches and popping everything in the body. Beat boxing with the body ..haha. "Pop Pop Pop, I'm ready for the day".. "Oh wait " * Pops their hip* "That's better". 

5.*After Care Requirements. 

After a long day of rehearsals we ache so bad. We are physically and mentally drained. If you catch us in that bad / tired mood my advise is to RUN! and run fast. Unless you are going to lay quietly and give us a full body massage. Plus that massage can not turn into anything remotely sexual. Just a simple massage and maybe a cup of tea. If that cannot be provided I would leave now unless you want your head bitten off. We will expect a nice hot bubbly bath which we won't be sharing. Bath salts added will earn you more brownie points. If you are a super boyfriend/ girlfriend you will brush the dancers hair. The hairspray hard layer will take time getting through but once you through you are invited to the greasy layer that awaits. Having your hair up all day makes your hair hurt weirdly.. but someone brushing your hair puts you into that relaxed stage which is always a safe zone for you.

6.*Going out out.

So you take the dancer 'out out', for drinks then maybe to a club afterwards. They are a dancer so you would expect good dance moves and to be shown up. You are wrong. When I am out I am no way serious. It cringes me out when I see people taking club dancing serious. My silly hat is on and every song is about finding the weirdest dance moves to put with it. If you are easily embarrassed you will want to stay clear of them for that night. Especially if they are with a group of dancers... When people ask you to show them your 'moves' just because your a dancer the answer is always going to be no! And another one is 'Can you do the splits, show me then'. I'm sorry I not going to wack out splits right here right now in this stupid dress with these stupid heels. I may be drunk but I am not lady like at the best of times therefore splits will just take whats left of my lady hood. I'm best at silly dancing and hoping you join in with the banter. 

*7.Become A Dance Partner.

Well lets hope you other half's have visited the weights section in the gym recently otherwise your in trouble. Us dancers have high trust in each other, throwing ourselves around and at complete strangers sometimes. Therefore we want to re-act this when we get home. Especially when you have learnt new things in double work you want to try it out and the next person you see which will be your other half. Luckily we know how to hold ourselves therefore you won't die hopefully although I do feel sorry for mine *Heifer over here. This partner work behavior can happen at anytime so you have to be prepared for it. It may be even the case of "Catch me" and those reaction time has to kick in. Another good thing is us dancers are used to falling over therefore it won't hurt as much if you do decide to drop us.. but I wouldn't advice it. They will love you more if you are willing to stand in first position and demi- plie when instructed. When pointing your toes you may be grabbed and forced to point more and if you do agree to a mini ballet class you will receive slapped legs and shouted out.. it's all because we love you , so don't worry. It's our way of saying we love you. 

*8.Competition. 

Competition from other people trying steal your dancer is probably not going to happen. We have such a busy schedule and lifestyle we would not have time for anyone else. Feel privileged that we incorporate you into our lives as it is. Normal people don't understand our long busy days we have and sometimes question why we do all the extra hours. But once you get involved with a dancer you will have to accept that you will not always be number one of their list and just have to lump it or leave it. Most dedicated dancers are dance mad and have been bought up with just being dance centered therefore don't expect them to change plans to see you if dance is involved. If you learn to support them accept this it will make them a very happy dancer and eventually they will make time for you and return the favor. Trust me its worth the wait. 

*9.Gifts R Us.

Being a dancer you re-use everything. Tops that no longer fit we cut and customize them to wear for rehearsals. Most of my tights have a billion holes in them but the sewing kit is wacked out and everything is sewn up. Most of my tops I wear for dance are my bothers tops that I've cut or just wear baggy. Dance is such a expensive sport, yes I just said sport :) with buying all the shoes and uniform list the money stacks up. Saving and sewing is my motto. Normal clothes are not really worn so you are saved a few quid there. Us dancers are not really bothered by flowers as we get them after shows so often so they are not nothing new! More money saved. The only big thing will be food. Yes food. Buy a dancer food and she will love your for forever. 

*10.Da Crew.

As dancers we mix with loads of different people. We are constantly meeting new people and networking. The more friends the better. Your dancer will have a few main friends though and you will have to meet at some point. You will find out that your partner isn't so weird after all and that they are all as weird as each other. A secret language of babal and laughter will occur and just laugh along and not look so awkward. Most of the time you will be clueless to what they are talking about and its normally not that exciting just silly chat. But the approval of the friends is key. If the friends don't like you its big trouble. Normal girls are protective of each other but dance friends are worse! Dancers eat and breath each other everyday and consider each other as family so the bond is much stronger, so the message is don't mess with them. Just remember we have more strength then you think and fearless characters. Beware of the dance family. Other than that the dance family are fun to be around and going out is always fun and something not to miss. 

So there you have, the few things you need to look out for when dating a dancer. You may find some more things on the way. Basically we are weird thangs and super fun to be around. Treat us right and you will be fine. You won't regret dating a dancer. We are truly one of a kind! Hope you crazy people liked my post. Make sure you share and pass it on to others. And Follow me on social networking please and thank you.

With Love Always

B x