Confessions of a Dancer!

Thought this could be fun! There a lot of things you probably don't know, wouldn't guess, or choose not to believe about dancers! Now, this doesn't go for ALL dancers, just myself and most the ones I know well and work with lol. I think some dancers would deny a lot of this out of embarrassment. But, I don't really care!!!

* Sometimes you'll be brushing your hair when getting ready for a show on Monday, and you'll brush bobby pins out from the show you did on SATURDAY!
* When you have to use a microphone in a show, you're required to use mic tape to keep the mic close to your face and the cord on your neck.....When you do 6 shows a week, this mic tape becomes part of your skin! Sometimes, you go to give someone a hug, and your cheek gets stuck for an awkward second because your skin is permanently sticky from the mic tape!
* Especially in shows that require a load of makeup (Thriller, Cats, Tarzan), you still find makeup of varied colors behind your ears, on your neck, in your hairline, or up your nose even after you've showered!

* It's quite normal to be covered in someone ELSE'S sweat at the end of the night. And sometimes, even their spit!!!!! If you've seen Thriller or Giselle, you've sat there and watched this occur :)
* Dancers will share pretty much anything.... And I mean ANYTHING!
* There is nothing more disgusting than a dancer's feet after they've rehearsed barefoot for 7 hours, or in who knows how many pairs of shoes.
* We close up splits in our feet with superglue, and just keep doing it every time they rip back open.
* When you rehearse for 7 hours, and then teach for 5 hours....sometimes a shower is the last thing on your mind. First comes food, then comes sleep! Showers are skipped, it just happens lol
* If we have a show on Wednesday night, and a news highlight on the morning show at 5 in the morning on Thursday, chances of us sleeping in our makeup and recycling it for the news are really high!!
* When a cast of dancers goes out to eat after a show, the thing you see most of is milk shakes and fries! 
* If you knew how much ibuprofen we took on a weekly basis, you would call us addicts.
* When we go on our European tour, we wear the same dance attire (includes booty shorts, bra, tank/tee, and sweats) an average of 3-4 times each. Mind you, the only laundry access we have is the bathroom sink!

* When we do our show Thriller, most of us paint our nails black because "it's Halloween and it goes with the show".....I paint mine black because then you can't see how dirty they get from all the makeup and stage dirt!
* We all have our little superstitions, some are worse than others. Mine is a pair of ripped up black tights. The very first year I was onstage with Odyssey Dance Theater (I was a member of Odyssey II at the time), I had to provide my own pair of ripped up tights for a costume. Well, I've used that same pair of tights EVERY SINGLE YEAR now (this will be the 7th year), and they haven't been washed ONCE!!!! You just can't wash something like that, ever!
* Most girls feel like bums when they wear sweats, like they are dressed way down....Dancers feel most comfortable and quite confident in their sweats!!! It's what we are wearing when we're doing the thing we love the most!!

* Dancers can undress themselves faster than you could ever imagine!
* You want to know our big "diet" secret? I'll tell you....we eat what we want, when we want, because we dance for 7 freaking hours a day!!!
* If a dancer tells you, "It's really no big deal if you can't make it to the show, I understand." What they really mean is "This show has been running for (insert correct # here) weeks/months, and you're telling me you can't make it to ONE  SINGLE SHOW???? I DON'T understand." Now you know :)
* If we hear a really good song in the car, we are more likely to bust out moves while driving rather than singing the words. And we usually get caught in the act...so many awkward looks from other drivers!!
* We are basically the CRAZIEST people you know, on most every level!

Well, I hope this was.....enlightening for you all :) And dancers, I hope that you are not too embarrassed to admit any of this, because its basically hilarious! I love all you amazing dancers with all my heart, and especially my ODT family, you're the bomb!!!