Jenn Edwards has crafted a multifaceted profession: She performs with Le Patin Libre, a up to date skating firm, dances, teaches, and choreographs for gymnasts and dancers, and performs in a band. Although her breadth of labor is spectacular, she’s additionally struggled with durations of self-doubt, questioning whether or not she really belonged in any of her chosen fields. “As a result of I’ve hopped round to totally different disciplines loads, I typically felt like I wasn’t an knowledgeable at any a type of issues—I used to be simply kind of a fraud in any respect of them,” she says.
Edwards’ experiences are indicative of impostor syndrome. Whereas the extreme doubt and worry related to this mind-set can grow to be debilitating, it’s additionally doable for dancers to alter their thought patterns, bolster their confidence, and regain possession of their craft.
Impostor Syndrome and Dancers
“I’d be very shocked if I met with a high-level dancer and so they didn’t have some model of this,” says Liv Massey, a psychological efficiency coach and counselor who works with performers and athletes. “Impostor syndrome exists on a spectrum, so some folks have somewhat little bit of it and a few individuals are actually, actually paralyzed by it. However with most dancers I communicate with, that is one thing we discuss.”
Impostor syndrome is a sample of considering, says Massey, not a analysis. It’s characterised by doubting one’s talents, downplaying achievements, and fearing being uncovered as a fraud, she explains. It’s common in high-achieving, pushed people, particularly those that are vulnerable to perfectionism. Folks with excessive nervousness are additionally extra prone to expertise it, as are those that battle to welcome experiences exterior their consolation zone. If you end up dwelling on ideas of inadequacy with out additionally bearing in mind your arduous work and success, you might be experiencing impostor syndrome.
Triggers and Profession Results
Sure occasions or conditions may immediate these thought patterns, and typically they’ll intersect with different points of identification. When Boston Ballet principal Chyrstyn Fentroy first started dancing professionally—and extra not too long ago when conversations surrounding range, fairness, and inclusion took middle stage within the ballet world—she struggled with insecurity and fears that she wasn’t worthy. “I puzzled if all the things that I had achieved up to now was deserved, and I began to essentially doubt that I had earned it. I assumed that it was the product of some ulterior motive,” she says. “I had folks say that I used to be solely getting employed into Boston Ballet as a result of they wanted a range rent.”
Triggers are particular person to every dancer, although there are some commonalities. Typically, the upper a dancer climbs within the ranks, the extra probably they’re to expertise doubts surrounding their talents and aptitude for the place, says Brooke Ewert, a licensed skilled counselor who makes a speciality of treating athletes and performers. Moreover, touchdown a coveted position—or, alternatively, having a foul audition or efficiency—may trigger impostor syndrome to flare up. For instance, one dancer would possibly really feel it most after a promotion as a result of they worry they don’t deserve their new rank, whereas one other would possibly really feel it extra after being handed over for a job.
If impostor syndrome goes unaddressed, Ewert says, it will probably maintain a dancer again from progressing and reaching their full creative potential, even when they’re at a high rank. It may possibly even make them go away the sphere. Massey provides that impostor syndrome can also be prone to result in burnout as a result of it will get in the best way of the enjoyment and move state that always accompany efficiency. “When you continually really feel such as you’re going to be uncovered and also you’re residing on this perception system that you simply’re not adequate, that isn’t a sustainable technique to proceed to get pleasure from what you do,” Massey says.
Therapeutic and Coping
Edwards mined impostor syndrome for artistic inspiration, pulling from her self-doubt to choreograph a up to date dance work, Imposter Syndrome, which debuted on the 2019 Vancouver Fringe Pageant. “I believe that anytime we take an idea from life and put it into one thing we’re creating as artwork, it helps to course of that factor and separate you from it,” she says.
One other useful coping software, Massey explains, is solely labeling self-deprecating ideas as impostor syndrome. Doing so may also help you acknowledge that they could not replicate actuality. “As a substitute of considering ‘I don’t deserve this position,’ reframe it as: ‘I’ve labored actually arduous for this, and I’m rising with every efficiency,’ ” says Massey. She provides that leaning in your help system, each inside and out of doors of the studio, may also help as you make these changes.
When you’re experiencing impostor syndrome, working with a therapist is useful, particularly in the event you’re discovering that these ideas are impacting your work and day by day life. Fentroy says that attending remedy helped her to develop instruments to problem and reframe her ideas—and that nursing an harm final season grew to become an surprising salve for impostor syndrome, too. “I spotted that there’s a lot to like about your experiences. You don’t wish to stroll away from this profession and be like, ‘I hated myself all the time and didn’t imagine in myself,’ ” she says. “You must love your self by way of the arduous issues, and loving your self by way of the arduous issues is like reminding your self that you simply belong the place you might be.”
