I Have
As a college student, I have always stood by being my own person, following whatever I believed was right and wrong. I prided myself in holding my own concepts, and never blending into what others thought were the more "popular" way, especially in high school. However, ever since I have been taking this expository course focusing on primarily doubles and doppelgangers, a huge factor that I have noticed in these instances, is due to the consequences of conformity. Before and at the beginning of the course, I believed that doubles and doppelgangers were bad, and that instances like which always resulted in negative inputs and outputs. I found myself to wonder whether I have ever been in an instance in which I was in fact, acting as a carbon copy of another, or having an identity crisis. I then thought, of course not Kristy, you have always stuck to who you are. A week later, it struck me. I have. I am guilty. Just because of my genetic make up, and strong core beliefs, doesn't mean I haven't participated in conformity. And just because I have conformed before in my life, does not mean it was a bad thing. It was actually good.
All my life, I have always been a dancer. As I continued to try new things (I always like to see how many things I can master, it's kind of a collected list) such as playing piano, karate, chess club, running track, cheer leading, making the swim team (and then felt satisfied and had quit a week later), and you get the gist... I had always never stopped or had quit on dance. By freshman year of high school, I decided that I needed to be more involved with school activities. Thus, I left my dance studio and tried out for pom, where I could dance, be on the sidelines for football and basketball, and be highly involved in school spirit. I have always prided myself in this sport, and I am so blessed to say that I have won 3 state championships and ranked top 10 in the nation for 5 consecutive years at the ESPN sports center. However, this sport was what brought to my attention that I have conformed before in my life.
Life as a dancer is all about the blending of technique, emotion, and expression. However, when you are placed within a team, you have to be even more perfect. For a good 5 years of my teenage life, I was sculpted and trained by my coach, to turn, leap, and jump perfectly. So was every other dancer. And when that seemed to be at par. we were trained to turn, leap, and jump exactly together. The amount of times my coach has told our team, "You guys should look exactly like each other when you get out on that competition floor. Once that uniform and make up is placed on, I shouldn't be able to point out who is who." The more together a team dances, the more clean they appear. The more mature they seem, and the more precise they execute. It's crazy that I hadn't thought about this when it comes to doubles and doppelgangers until half a semester in the class, but as you see, conforming doesn't always have to be a bad thing.
It wasn't always in just performances either. We got the privilege to work with a famous choreographer who actually choreographed the introduction dance of the 2018 Olympics. He only likes to work with serious, professional dancers. Therefore, we were trained a week in advance, for his arrival. We had to dress all back, in either shorts with a tank top or a sports bra to show our lines. We all had to have tight ballerina buns at the tops of our heads, and performance make up on. He didn't like it when we looked "tired and ugly." Making a mistake in front of him was s c a r y.
All in all, I have conformed, and in a lot of instances, every single girl in the dance team have tried so hard to look like each other. I mean, it's a team sport. We all wanted to win. But in doing so, we didn't see that when it came to team dances, we were having to sacrifice our individuality in our dance moves, in order to look exactly the same. And for that specific situation, that was okay.
All my life, I have always been a dancer. As I continued to try new things (I always like to see how many things I can master, it's kind of a collected list) such as playing piano, karate, chess club, running track, cheer leading, making the swim team (and then felt satisfied and had quit a week later), and you get the gist... I had always never stopped or had quit on dance. By freshman year of high school, I decided that I needed to be more involved with school activities. Thus, I left my dance studio and tried out for pom, where I could dance, be on the sidelines for football and basketball, and be highly involved in school spirit. I have always prided myself in this sport, and I am so blessed to say that I have won 3 state championships and ranked top 10 in the nation for 5 consecutive years at the ESPN sports center. However, this sport was what brought to my attention that I have conformed before in my life.
Life as a dancer is all about the blending of technique, emotion, and expression. However, when you are placed within a team, you have to be even more perfect. For a good 5 years of my teenage life, I was sculpted and trained by my coach, to turn, leap, and jump perfectly. So was every other dancer. And when that seemed to be at par. we were trained to turn, leap, and jump exactly together. The amount of times my coach has told our team, "You guys should look exactly like each other when you get out on that competition floor. Once that uniform and make up is placed on, I shouldn't be able to point out who is who." The more together a team dances, the more clean they appear. The more mature they seem, and the more precise they execute. It's crazy that I hadn't thought about this when it comes to doubles and doppelgangers until half a semester in the class, but as you see, conforming doesn't always have to be a bad thing.
It wasn't always in just performances either. We got the privilege to work with a famous choreographer who actually choreographed the introduction dance of the 2018 Olympics. He only likes to work with serious, professional dancers. Therefore, we were trained a week in advance, for his arrival. We had to dress all back, in either shorts with a tank top or a sports bra to show our lines. We all had to have tight ballerina buns at the tops of our heads, and performance make up on. He didn't like it when we looked "tired and ugly." Making a mistake in front of him was s c a r y.
All in all, I have conformed, and in a lot of instances, every single girl in the dance team have tried so hard to look like each other. I mean, it's a team sport. We all wanted to win. But in doing so, we didn't see that when it came to team dances, we were having to sacrifice our individuality in our dance moves, in order to look exactly the same. And for that specific situation, that was okay.
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