u/Guilty_Contact8227

Mon rêve le plus profond aurait été d’être une danseuse professionnelle mais mes parents ne m’ont pas mit dans la danse petite car ils n’avaient pas d’argent. Vous vous en doutez : c’est le genre de discipline où il faut commencer tôt pour pouvoir en vivre.

C’est seulement quand j’ai commencé à travailler à plein temps et à avoir du temps à consacrer à ça que j’ai pu commencer à prendre des cours de danse, donc vers l’âge de 26 ans, donc tard.
Je danse 7h00 par semaine plusieurs styles de danse (+ quelques stages). Ça fait 4 ans que je danse et je suis entre le niveau débutant et le niveau initié.

Je voudrais danser plus que ça mais je ne peux pas me permettre financièrement de payer plus (j’en suis à plus de 2 500€ à l’année, ce qui est énorme).
Je suis contente de pouvoir enfin danser mais tellement triste car je sais que je ne serais jamais une professionnelle un jour !

J’envie énormément les personnes qui ont eu des parents qui leur ont mit dans la danse petits. Sauf qu’on ne choisit pas ça ! Pourquoi je n’ai pas eu cette chance ?
J’ai beau essayer de positiver là-dessus : j’ai l’impression que je n’arriverai jamais à passer au-dessus…
Quand je vois les filles des autres niveaux (intermédiaire ou avancés) danser si bien, la plupart du temps plus jeunes que moi : je me dis qu’elles en ont de la chance ! Parce qu’elles ont commencé la danse enfant et moi je n’ai pas eu cette chance….
Si vous avez des conseils, des experiences, des points de vus…

My deepest dream has always been to become a professional dancer but my parents couldn't afford to put me in dance classes when I was a kid. It was only when I started working full-time and finally had my own money and schedule that I could start taking classes. I was around 26, so pretty late.
I've been dancing for 4 years now. I do various styles at different studios and I'm still at a beginner (sometimes initiated) level… I dance about 7 hours a week and take a few workshops here and there. I would absolutely love to dance more than that but I simply can't afford to pay for more classes right now.
I am happy of course to finally be dancing but... I'm also deeply sad because I know I'll never be a professional dancer ! 😔 I intensely envy people whose parents enrolled them in dance as children. We don't get to choose our upbringing but I still catch myself asking : why didn't I get that chance ? 😢
No matter how hard I try to look on the bright side, I feel like I'll never be able to move past this grief…
When I see girls in intermediate or advanced classes dancing so beautifully, who are usually younger than me, I just think about how lucky they are. They had the privilege of starting as kids and I didn't get that chance.
If anyone has any advice, personal experiences, or different perspectives to share on how to get over this feeling, I would really appreciate it. 🙏🏻

EDIT :

After thinking about it, I realized why there is such a misunderstanding between us.
I looked at the stats for my post and most of you live in the US. The disconnect really comes down to cultural differences. I live in a European country and the reality of the dance industry here is vastly different from yours.

In the US, you have a huge commercial dance scene (music videos, theme parks, backup dancing). Sometimes, a dancer's energy, look, or vibe matters just as much as pure academic technique. So yes, starting at 20 and booking gigs at 26 is actually possible there.

Where I live in Europe, it is completely different. We definitely don’t have access to the same opportunities and the system is quite strict and institutionalised. Professional companies almost exclusively hire young people under 30.
On top of that, you need a very specific legal status and strict declared working hours to even survive as an artist. By 30, many dancers here are already thinking about career transitions. Because of this system, starting from scratch at 26, with only 7 hours of classes a week, makes becoming a professional objectively impossible here.

It’s not about me being negative or not working hard enough, it’s simply the reality of how the industry works in my country. I appreciate the encouragement but the "hustle culture" mentality doesn't bypass the structural and socio-economic realities of where I live.

I hope that makes more sense ! 🙏🏻