By The Girl with the Tree Tattoo

A co-worker recently asked me if I thought I’d make it to an after-work outing people in the office were putting together. I told her I’d have to wait and see because my schedule is so busy after hours. 

She responded, “Oh yeah, you have your little dance thing.”

Uh, not exactly. 

Her eyes got wide as I explained how I’m training for my next competition, where I plan to compete in nine different dances while also running a beta release of my third book and keeping up with my blog and its social media pages. 

Just a bit more than a “little dance thing.”

Pursuits that you enjoy but don’t earn you an income are typically considered hobbies. Hobbies are fun leisure activities that you do when you’re not at your job or busy with other life responsibilities. Nothing makes me grit my teeth quite like someone referring to my dancing as a hobby or some kind of leisure activity I do on the side. It somehow downplays all of the time, energy, and money — not to mention the blood, sweat, and tears — that I’ve dedicated to dance. 

Ballroom dancing, whether you do it as a professional who is paid or as an amateur who pays, is a passion. Yes, there are those who consider their ballroom dancing just a hobby. They do it for fun or to stay active. Maybe it’s one of several leisure activities they enjoy. Then there are those dancers, usually competitors, who commit everything they have to it.

Dance is life, and everything else is a side note.

I think I balk at the word “hobby” because it implies that ballroom dancing is secondary in my life. As in, I’m a girl who dances ballroom after work, as opposed to a ballroom dancer who works a day job. The passion I feel for ballroom is such a dominating internal force, so it is mystifying when it isn’t recognized externally as a dominant part of my life.

Nowadays, my “dance thing” involves so much more than just dance lessons, so it’s easy to set people straight when they mistake my passion for anything less than what it is. I understand that they just don’t know and I have plenty of tangible evidence to prove this is more than a hobby. 

But just because a ballroom student doesn’t turn their dancing into some kind of entrepreneurial endeavor doesn’t mean they consider their dancing just a hobby. 

Some of the most passionate and dedicated ballroom dancers can be found competing at the pro-am morning sessions of a competition. They spend thousands of dollars, take time off of work, give up weekends, and get up at 4 in the morning for hair and makeup appointments, all to be on deck and ready to perform their best. 

No matter their age, they push their bodies and minds to the max. When they step onto the floor and the music begins, it’s easy to see their passion come to life. These are not people with a dance hobby. 

These are ballroom dancers.