By Arunas Bizokas
I believe a plan is very important and I’ve spent quite a lot of time planning my dancing career, training seasons, competitions, performances and etc. Planning is one of the methods of preparation. It’s a process that requires thinking about the activities needed to reach our desired goals. It includes forecasting the events and making scenarios how to react to them.
For example, I could plan how to perform Waltz in the Competition. This could include deciding the starting position and placement of the choreography on that particular floor.
For instance, The International Championships at the Royal Albert Hall has an oval floor; therefore I plan in advance how to place the choreography so it will fit well on that particular floor. Planning on the figures that would be most suitable for the floorcraft situation is always very useful as well. Sometimes I hear couples saying: “Oh that floor is so small, we couldn’t fit the routines.” This shows that they didn’t plan well or early enough; therefore they couldn’t perform to their best ability.
Of course, it’s impossible to predict everything and sometimes we need to act spontaneously. However, it doesn’t diminish the value of planning. Planning helps us to be better prepared for the predictable as well as unpredictable situations.
Depending upon the activities, a plan can be long-range, intermediate-range or short-range. Planning your entire dance career would definitely be a long-range plan. It’s a continuous process of refining it and integrating it with other plans you may have in your life.
When I started dancing I didn’t think of dancing as possible career. Only when I was 18 years old and got few good results in competitions I began thinking more about a dancer’s career. Until then I wasn’t sure I was going to pursue it. I was doing well in school and preparing to enter University of Technology to study Architecture. I liked dancing, but I didn’t plan it very far ahead. I could say my planning was short to intermediate range. It was very important for me to do well in competitions, so I would make plans for those particular competitions.
Types of Plans
A plan for a competition or a plan for a round in the competition or a dance could be called a short-range plan.
If we take a week, a month or a year and plan our training, lessons, participation in specific competitions and etc., it could be called an intermediate-range plan.
So when I started thinking about dancing as a career I started planning long-range. That plan included moving to the city where many of my teachers were based. This city also had an Academy of Physical Education and Sports, which I entered as I thought studying there would be beneficial for my dancing. At a later stage the plan involved relocating to England, having dance lessons and practicing there.
All dancers need to plan how many lessons to have, how much to practice and which competitions to dance… Some dancers plan to move to different cities or eventually different countries.
I remember it wasn’t easy, because many things needed to be balanced together.
We easily wish more than we can afford, so when we make a plan we have to remember that our plan should be a realistic view of our expectations.
Arunas Bizokas
