I was watching ‘into the beat’ this week on Netflix, a German dance movie, about a girl that stands before the very difficult choice to stop ballet and go for another type of dancing. Although she came from a dancer’s family and was practicing ballet since she was a very young child, it was only at the age of almost 18, that she felt the real beauty of dancing from the heart and it was while dancing hip-hop. As an ex dancer myself this movie touched me a lot. And not because of the dancing, but because at that age we are very often confronted to make a difficult choice what to do with the rest of our lives. It feels as if the decisions we need to make are going to be irreversible. I remember the exact same feeling when I had that age. Stepping on the boat to Dover and taking the train to London, was a very though choice to make. After London I also went to Paris, Monte Carlo, Rotterdam, The Hague, Geneva, Lausanne, Madrid,…to find out if I was good enough to be taken somewhere as a professional dancer. I was terrified sometimes at the auditions, as I made the decision to go to university and start engineering studies, this crazy idea of mine might change the whole plan. I got different proposals and options and I had to make a difficult decision about where to start my life as a dancer.
In the movie you also see the heartbreaking decision the girl needs to make as she thinks that if she stops ballet she will also lose the love of her father.
I remember those feelings also, my parents working very hard making it possible for me to go to university, I can still see the proud eyes of my dad when I decided to go for the studies. But exactly as that girl in the movie I had to follow my heart and decided to dance, meaning canceling my university plans(or at least for the time being), ending my relation with my boyfriend, that also had it all figured out for the 5 years of studying. It felt like breaking many hearts to follow my own heart. But I am still happy I had the guts to take that decision that for sure changed my initial plans but look at me now, I am not a dancer anymore since a long time, I did study afterwards, I became an entrepreneur, I am even making another dream reality at the moment.
What I try to tell young people I meet, is that they need to follow their passion. We need to dare and follow our own heart as this is the most important heart you need to respect , despite other people’s dreams.
It is about your own dreams.
Now that I am a parent I can see that we secretly dream about a future for our children, we also try to protect them from falling, we try to give them the easiest life possible. We do not want them to get hurt. But we may never cut their wings to prevent them to fly even if they might fall. Because taking that big jump believing you can fly is what makes every step we take valuable.
We can always turn around an walk the other way if that would feel better, but make that choice and know that the beauty about life is that you have the opportunity to make many decisions, make them count.
Because after all it is about how much love did life made you feel?
There is no such thing as a crack in forever when we talk about the love of a parent. I know that now, but I was afraid, just as that girl in the movie.
