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I was enjoying
my morning cup of coffee when I overheard my wife
say, "This is amazing"! "What's so
amazing", I asked. "Come here and take a
look at this", she says. Looking through our
kitchen window, I could see Rosie, ferociously chewing
away at the end of the extension from our rain gutter.
The extension is a 6-foot long aluminum pipe that
keeps the rain away from our house, which is an important
feature, if you have a basement. The pipe is now torn
off the gutter and is being swung around the front
yard.
Rosie is in a lather and it is pretty obvious to Becky
and me that there must be a chipmunk hiding in the
pipe. " Oh well, she'll get bored and stop",
I say as I lazily proceed back to the recliner with
my cup-o-joe. "Go get her, she'll wake the neighborhood",
I am told. Ugh, I knew that was coming. Standing there
in my T-shirt and boxers, I am bummed out because
I know that if I get dressed and go outside to rescue
the dog (actually the pipe and the chipmunk), my relax
time is over. So, I make a quick decision. It's 6
am, barely any sunlight, and if I do this quick, I
can grab the dog, put back the pipe and spare any
neighbor from seeing me in my boxers.
With the intention
of elongating my morning peace, I head on out the
door. First, I try just calling the dog but I soon
realize that Rosie has no clue that I even exist at
this point. As I reach over and pick up the pipe,
I can hear the pitter-patter of little chipmunk paws
trying to hang on to the inside. Although I have lifted
the pipe off the ground, Rosie is still on the other
end, hanging on by her jaws, little legs dangling
in the air. It must have been quite a sight to see...me
in my boxers, shaking and swinging an aluminum pipe,
in the middle of my yard, with my dog hanging on the
other end of it. We were all doing the dance of intent.
I was intent on saving my pipe, Rosie was intent on
getting that chipmunk (who has taunted her all summer
long) and the chipmunk was intent on living to see
another day.
"Well, that's the funniest damn thing I have
ever seen"! I suddenly hear. I turn to look and
there is one of my neighbors, walking her dog past
our house. You might find this hard to believe, but
I was speechless! I mumbled something to her. I am
sure my face was bright red, as I stood there in my
underwear. I realized how hilarious this must have
looked! I finally got Rosie to let go of the pipe.
The chipmunk escaped and I even got to enjoy the rest
of my morning, cold coffee and all.
Some dogs give
up easy. They see a squirrel lazily trotting across
the yard and wham! They want out that door. Let the
dance begin! Dog chases squirrel. Squirrel runs around
tree. Dog chases squirrel up the tree. End of dance.
Most dogs wait at the bottom of the tree and within
a few minutes, realize that there are much better,
tastier snacks in the house.
But not my dog.
Rosie, our rat terrier, never gives up. She will sit
by the window all day long, waiting for a critter
(big or small), to come out of hiding so she can start
her hunt. I have personally witnessed this small,
12-pound runt of a dog, go at it with other dogs that
have chew bones bigger than her! I am always amazed
at her tenacity and her "Victory is mine!"
attitude. If I could only bottle these qualities and
sell them.....
People are really no different are they? Especially
competitive dancers.
The question is, what are you? In your pursuit of
winning a title and advancing in the ranks, how strong
is your will to succeed? One of my favorite things
about this sport is that it is, in many aspects, based
on visual things. But, it's not just physical, it
is mental as well, if not even more.
A friend of mine, (a non dancer), after attending
a dance competition with us, said, "I feel like
I just attended a beauty contest". I can see
why he would say that. There are so many beautiful
people in our industry but we know it takes more than
good looks to win a dance competition.
Does the most
beautiful person always win? Of course not.
Grooming is extremely
important but attitude is what can separate the men
from the boys. Attitude, backed up by knowledge, is
a winning combination! You can buy an expensive costume,
a great hairdo, some lessons from a world-renowned
coach, but you can't purchase an attitude, can you?
Believing you are the best in your game and knowing
deep down inside that you can back it up is what one
has to strive for. There are no miracles when it comes
to competition. There is no one coaching lesson that
will change your dancing and even more importantly,
change the results of a competition. It is all accumulative,
isn't it? This is what takes time. There was a young
man I knew a while back in a studio that I coach out
of. After just a couple of years in the business,
he asked me if I knew of a really good girl he could
compete in the International Standard with. I asked
him "What's wrong with the partner you have now?
You both have been in the business for the same amount
of time. You could learn a lot together."
"You don't understand", he says, "
I mean, she's nice and all, but I want to be in the
top twelve by the end of the year". This is an
example of a false attitude and the lack of appreciation
and understanding of what it takes to reach a goal
of this magnitude. Yet, I hear this a lot. Needless
to say, this man, who certainly had the talent and
the ability to become a finalist, is no longer at
this studio. His unrealistic approach to competitive
dancing cost him a nice career in a great studio,
doing something he enjoyed. Remember what I said earlier,
it's attitude backed up by knowledge. Patience is
another virtue that is so important. Like my dog hanging
on to the end of the pipe waiting for the chipmunk,
sometimes we as dancers have to be patient and wait
for the knowledge to sink in, both physically and
mentally. So, for those of you who will be competing
soon, get out there and give us some attitude!
Dan
Messenger
10-08-2001
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