Outside your comfort zone

What must it be like being a teacher on Dancing with the Stars? I cant imagine how hard it would be to teach just one person for weeks on end, day in, day out.

I cant imagine how difficult it must be to find new avenues and angles to explain things to someone who has no idea of the concept of dance! Teaching 8 hours a day is hard enough as it is, giving energy all day long, talking constantly, being on your feet, being physical all day. Its a demanding thing to do but can you imagine doing this with just one person, all day long?

As a teacher I enjoy the shift in energy when a lesson turns over into the next one. Students get fatigued at taking in so much information. They have a threshold of how much they can do or take in. What sort of teaching skill must be required to keep the student focused, attentive and still able to take information in after 6 hours a day. My mind boggles at the concept.

Imagine if you didnt get along with the person? Imagine if you found them irritating! Imagine if you couldnt stand them! Wow, how long would you last in the show? Imagine if you fancied them and couldnt focus on the job? Imagine if you mixed business with pleasure and started a relationship in the middle of it all (as with another DWTS celebrity) what a distraction!

But for the teacher, at least they already teach, they know what its like to teach all day long, to find many different ways to explain one thing so that you can get through. They know what its like to take a person through their own doubts and take them to a place they never thought they could get to.

So what must it be like for the celebrity? To take in all that information on a completely new topic, a subject that you are so unfamiliar with. Would it be exciting, new & challenging or could it be terrifying, intimidating and full of doubt, fear and negativity.

I can see how easily a person would find the experience terrifying; the fear of public humiliation, putting yourself out there to such a degree that you could make an absolute fool of yourself. Or you could have the wildest ride of your life!

Its interesting to see the messageboards on Dancing with the Stars, they are full of people who have opinions about everyone but no concept of what it must be like to be in their situation. Do people understand how difficult it is to take on a new skill, learn it at a concentrated rate and then apply it with newly formed muscles in front of a live audience.

I know when I first went onto the ships with Paul, I just didnt have the muscles I needed to perform at the level I needed. It took me months to develop the inner core muscles and then to be able to rely on them when I needed them. And the ability to just turn it on when the audience is there, thats a huge one. For me, I hadnt performed live for quite some time. Sure, I could dance in front of people, didnt mind them watching, quite the show off one might say but when you get on that floor and people expect a show, well thats a completely differnt feeling.

I know how terrifying it was for me to have all those people looking at me, expecting to see something, expecting to feel something. It was a huge expectation and one I didnt always feel ready to fulfill. Performing live is something that needs energy and determination that just doesnt normally exist. Its something that you have to create, draw upon from a reserve deep down inside you. Often I didnt feel like performing, I felt sick, I was seasick, I was exhausted; there were so many times I wasnt up for it but I couldnt get out of the obligation.

They were the most testing times for me, I just had to pull something out from somewhere. These arent skills you learn at school, or off your parents, you dont chat about handy hints with your girlfriends for this kind of stuff. Performing is a world on its own and not everyone has it.

I cant imagine what it would be like for a successful celebrity to put themselves on the line to the degree they do in DWTS and perform at such high levels at the same time AND with new dance skills and newly shaped muscles! My god, so much effort and soooooooo much work.

I applaud anyone that puts themselves outside their comfort zone. We are creatures of comfort and do anything to avoid looking bad. I love it when people play hard, no matter what the results!