Dance is So Cool

Delaney's Random Obsession of the Day. And Kinda Her Life. 

DANCE IS LITERALLY THE COOLEST THING EVER WOW!!

So I had my first dance competition of the season at the beginning of the month, and I learned so much. 

Some random things I learned:

• Improv isn't that hard. - It's actually very freeing once you realize that there's no wrong answer when you're making things up as you go.
• Pay attention to details. - This is really important not only in dance, but in everyday life. The details are what makes your life different from anyone's.
• Listen to new music. - Honestly music is so cool, and there's so much more out there than Taylor Swift and Ari Grande (don't get me wrong, I definitely cried at both of their concerts). Try to find one new artist a week and listen to one of their albums. It will take like a half hour. I've started doing this and I've found so many different sounds that I would have never found on the Top 40 section of iTunes.
• Be a little bit more you. - You are really cool. Promise. Let people see more of yourself a little bit more each day. Even if you think you're the weirdest person in the world. A lot of people like weird. Weird is cool. 
• Don't be afraid. Life is way too short to be scared of anything, honestly. If you spend your whole life in fear, you're never gonna know what to do when the time comes when you have to be brave.
• Kill the game. Literally live your entire life. Just go kill it.

I also learned another lesson that isn't really "random". It's too important for that list: Why can't we all just be nice?

Over the competition weekend, I saw (and heard) a LOT. And a lot of it wasn't positive. I honestly think it's insane that of all places to be mean, we were at a dance competition. Observers are making nasty comments about people doing what they love. Although some competitors are there just to win, the vast majority are there to learn, be inspired, and grow. How are dancers supposed to grow in such a bitter environment? It's enough pressure to be judged by the judges, I don't think there is any way for the extra commentary from the peanut gallery in the audience. There is a difference between "healthy competition" and belittling young children. Some people need to learn the difference still.

And this leads me to the convention room. Take one look around, and there are little clumps all over the room. Dancers tend to gravitate towards others from their studio. This past convention, I made it a point to go across the room from my studio. I had such an amazing weekend. Don't get me wrong, I'm obsessed with everyone at my studio, and I can't imagine doing this with anyone else! But I think the best part of dance is the networking and meeting new people. I feel like so many dancers are missing out on this part of the dance world because they're too focused on the final destination or scholarship or trophy or ribbon or whatever the prize may be. If you think about it, that piece of paper or plastic or metal won't matter in ten years for most dancers. That $100 cash prize or 50% discount on the next convention city will be used in a year. I think the journey to that final prize is the coolest part of dance. I've met so many cool people through dance. I have friends in California, Canada, Montana, DC, Pennsylvania, Montana, all over Ohio, and so many more places all because of dance. I would never have met these friends if I didn't step away from my studio and dance to other dancers. Once again, I'm obsessed with my studio, but it's not wrong to be nice to people who don't dance at the same studio as you.

A lot of dancers seem to forget that we're all at competitions and conventions for the same reason -- to dance. We're all obviously doing that already, so why not be nice while you're doing it?

Although a lot of my friendships with other dancers were formed by "just being nice", another big lesson I learned not only at my competition, but from dance in general, is Take risks.

I've had so many teachers tell me this throughout my years as a dancer, but it's just now starting to stick. I've seen myself change so much as a dancer since last competition season, and it's all because of my teachers pushing me to take risks. You'll never move if you don't take risks. One day, you're not going to dance anymore. I think we should make the most of however much time we have left to dance and be adventurous. Make your own moves. Leave your own little legacy. You'll never be remember if you're not risky. Look at all the names remembered in history. I can guarantee you won't be able to name one that never took a risk. 

So overall, I would say I had a good weekend. I think dance is so cool and I probably always will. I think the coolest thing about dance is how everything you learn through dance can be transferred over to real life. I've grown so much as a person because of dance and I don't think I would e the person I am today because of dance, and I'm honestly so thankful for it. Go live your life.

Quote of the blog post: "Ten years from now, make sure you can say that you chose your life, you didn't settle for it."

Cheers to the madness

I'm back and fiercer than ever.

The amount of times I've used that quote is kind of ridiculous. I got my phone back ,and could finally text my friends again, and I realized how awesome my friends actually are. I honestly missed them so much. It's currently 11:56 pm on a Monday and I'm sitting here writing a blog post lol not even sorry. 

Competition Madness Begins.

It's (almost) officially the start of the dance competition season, and I've already had such a great dance season. I've learned so much about myself and how to live and how I dance since the season started and it feels great. Here's some great lessons I've learned that I feel like everyone could learn from.

If you commit, go all in and stick with it.

This is super important. If you're gonna show up to whatever you're doing, you might as well show up and put in 200% effort to what you're doing. Begin engulfing yourself in whatever you do, and it will eventually feel like second nature. I've started going 200% more often this year, and it's already starting to pay off. We only have so much time to do what we gotta do, so I say we go all in and conquer the world.

Also, once you say you're gonna do something, don't just throw the towel in in the middle of the job. Finish what you've committed to. 

Be passionate.

If you're not passionate about what you're doing, then honestly why are you doing it? If you're passionate about what you're doing, then it will be so much more enjoyable to live your life. Find something you're passionate and run as far as you possibly can with it. Take your passions to levels you didn't know were possible to reach. 

Don't be hurtful.

Nasty people are awful to be around. We all have those people in our lives that we absolutely cannot love no matter how hard we try. Don't be that person for someone else. It's so cliche, but if we all just treated each other how we want to be treated, the world would be such a cool place to be. 

This is kind of a shorter post, but I just realized that sleep is kind of an important thing...

Quote of the post: "Success is the sweetest revenge."

This is my blog :,)

There's no time like the present. 

 So that's kind of why I'm here. 

I was planning on starting a blog as one of my New Year's resolutions, but I got really excited about it and I've been thinking it about it all day so I just made one now. I had a really hard time thinking of a blog url, so I started thinking about all the things that make me who I am and that I enjoy. I'm a dancer, but I wasn't feeling like making it related to dance. I kept thinking about my friends and all the crazy nicknames they have for me (there's a lot of nicknames). I think DBau is my favorite because everyone pronounces it differently and its fun and short and to the point. So that's how I came up with "my friends call me DBau". 

In the past few weeks of me being tragically grounded from all outside contact with the real world, I've had a lot of time to think, and I've realized a few things. 

• None of my friends actually call me Delaney. 

The most common nickname is obviously DBau, but some of my friends call me D, Laney, Lane, Dels, Dels the Bels, Deh-lah-nee, Dehl-uh-nee, Bud, Bug, and D-Dog (lol). The only people who actually call me Delaney are my teachers and it's so funny to me. And I've also realized that I don't call my friends any of their full names either. Some of them are at the point where I'm appalled if I call them by their actual first name. God I love my friends.

•  I love little kids. 

Ok I lied. I've known that I love little kids for, like, my entire life. But I HAVE realized how obsessed I am with the dance babies that I student teach. I can guarantee this won't be the first time I blog about how much I love these little kids. They're such hard workers AT AGE 6! They push me to work harder in my life and to put my all in to everything I do because they put their all into that hour and a half with me and it just makes me happy. They're all the sweetest little girls and they're such a strong team already. I don't want any of them to grow up because I just want to work with them forever. They're forever my muses, honestly. 

• A lot of my friendships are heavily dependent on my phone. 

Man did I learn that the hard way! I'm not saying that I'm one of those people that would die without Instagram and Twitter and Snapchat, but I really depend on my phone to stay in touch with my friends. So many of my friendships are with people that I'm not lucky enough to see everyday, and I really take that for granted sometimes because I feel like they're right there with me because I'm always texting them. I love these kind of people. The kind that make you open up your eyes and see how lucky you are that you get to talk to them. 

• Change is good. CHANGE IS GOOD!

I'm actually lowkey salty that this one took me so long to learn. I've always been a really big schedule person, and if something in my schedule is off, it has the possibility of ruining my day. I'm starting to see that maybe it's not a huge deal if my schedule is a little different day after day. Which leads me to my next point...

• Don't sweat the small stuff. 

This was definitely the one that I'm still trying to come to terms with. So many small things really tend to bother me and I hate that, so I'm trying to get past it. This realization came to me when I wore my leggings backwards to school. I was SO embarrassed until I told my friend, and she said "I couldn't even tell, don't worry about it." I realized that so many silly mistakes might seem like a huge deal to us, but other people may not even notice. 

Wow I already very high key like blogging. it feels so cool and I'm lowkey obsessed after my first post. 

DBau's quote to live by: "If you're going to be weird, be confident about it"