As I am currently studying a 700 pages long compendium on the topic of webdesign - including coding and "real work" - I´ve stumbled along this concept that correlates with exceptional dancing, horseriding and working (in whatever field of business). Since webdesign is often underestimated (“Just pretty pictures, easy to build, everyone can do it”) but there a still a lot of crappy and awful looking websites out there, it got me thinking.
Dancing, especially ballet, is often consumed for its expression of beautiful - or at least easy on the eye – body language and choreography. Spectators enjoy a well-danced story for their own amusement, often not realizing or even ignoring the hard work dancers put into their profession. Then, there is often the discussion that includes envy or mischief, why some dancer is a star while others drift along in the corps de ballet. Most ambitious dancers have a certain physique, but they are also very determined. Not only by learning to dance, but also with resilience towards their colleagues and even theatre. Critics sometimes think that stars are being "favored" by a theatre and maybe, in the past, it was possible to become a "prima" through simply being "chosen" by one´s theatre.
The same applies for the working world of the past, where, once employed, one could easily stay in a company forever, doing routine work, always receiving a pay-check.
Older corporate worker generations today "feel sorry" for the young generation because of the damaged economy. There is no structure anymore for one´s career in any field of business. One can only rely on their own brains! On the other hand, I found it strange and even silly, working with some older work colleagues with a status of civil servants. They had absolutely no shame taking pride in their non-achievements. They just always have "been there", in their company. Sitting around, serving in simple ways, but never with something outstanding or unique. Way too much work! When something changed inside the company - structure or bosses - they were simply passed along into another department, got tasks that didn´t need exceptional brains or performance and got paid anyway! What a quiet (and boring) working life - no goals, no stress. The only ares of interest became their personal lives. Discussions about husbands, ex-husbands, unsuccessful and/or stupid or lazy, but still beloved children, were taken to the lunch table with colleagues who probably didn´t give a s**** about the self-talk!
Young and ambitious people don´t get much approval or help in business. They mostly have to learn by themselves.
The same is with dance today. Constantly discovering new twitter accounts of aspiring dancers, many of them injured but still working, I tell you that no one who earns their “star-status” has to deal with the bulls**** that´s being discussed by nobodys. They can´t be everybody´s darlings, they simply have no time for that!
The same theory can be applied to horseriding, sport of my choice (or non-choice since I was connected to horses from the moment I first saw one as a baby). Riders are still dealing with prejudice that will drive one nuts, like “the horse is doing all the work”, “you simply sit there”, “it is not difficult”.
Don´t get me wrong, tons of riding lessons can be sold on that thinking, letting people believe they are actually doing something! But, one day or the other, they might see a real rider during a competition or in some school for Classical Dressage and they will want to do the same! And this is where they will have to give up their passive status of comfortable, autopilot kind-of-riding (you can easily recognize this: the horse walks on the forehand only, not arching the neck by activating the hind-hand) and start to actively work on their body. Just like dancers! Plus, they will have to engage and motivate the horse and win its focus! Many “riders” with bad habits or simply lack of talent and/or motivation will quit riding all together at this stage.
So what I wanted to say is that people who actually work their asses off deserve respect more than judgement and criticism. And that some comfortable and maybe even lazy critics should know that those people actually don´t give a s*** about those opinions.
That´s all from me for today, I´m going back to my book.
