10,000 Hours of Dance

You've probably heard, through some vague unidentified grapevine, that it takes 10,000 hours to become a "master" at a particular skill. It was shared widely in one of Malcolm Gladwell's books and generally poorly interpreted, with individuals thinking that if you can just tally up a bunch of hours, you'll naturally become good at something.

This is misdirected at best and a dangerous time sink at worst. (Trust me on this: I have poured thousands upon thousands of hours into League of Legends and still have not peaked anywhere higher than Gold.)

However, it is not entirely without merit. Although the focus should be on quality practice, it is equally true that one will never get better without the reps. There's a reason pianists start a practice session running through their scales, the most rudimentary plonking where you just press keys in order. It's the same reason every ballet class starts with pliés and tendus at the barre, hundreds of them in the span of a single class. Reps build muscle memory (and the literal muscle too).

Over the past year, I've been getting back into dance more seriously. It started with being invited to perform in the alumni piece at Dance Revelasian's 2025 showcase. It was wonderful to move with people that I hadn't seen in over a decade, performing a dance style that I also hadn't touched in over a decade. When I arrived back in Houston, I immediately registered at Dance of Asian America to return to Chinese dance and amped up my drop-in classes at Houston Met Dance. I had gotten fitted for pointe shoes 2 years before that, but had never actually used said shoes, so I got approved to attend pointe classes. I've been taught by incredible, famous artists like Amy Fote and Nao Kusuzaki and the queen Lauren Anderson herself.

What started as a short, time-bounded fun project with old friends turned into a rekindled obsession. It was the spark that made me reconsider the career path I was on -- a career path that would not have been compatible with my rigorous dance schedule for at least the next 6-7 years. It made me sit down and really think through what made my soul sing.

It was fulfilling to perform well in my career; it was life-changing and sacred to dance.

At the same time, I knew I didn't want to make dance my full-time career; I have seen the disastrous results that happen when I try to turn a passion into the thing that I rely on for rent and food. But I did want to give it a place in my life that was supportive and adjunctive to my day career -- something more than just a "hobby". As such, I have started taking it much more seriously. I try to take class every single day and have gotten back into teaching (which I also haven't done for nearly a decade). Teaching in particular has actually my own skill significantly, as I am really needing to delve into technique and physiology. I also like to demonstrate, which has forced me to work on skills that I had never mastered in the past or have gotten rusty on (looking at you, cabrioles and calypsos...)

What does this have to do with the title of this post? (Bear with me, I am ADHD as heck.)

I'm sure I've hit several thousand hours of dance already in the course of my lifetime, but I am nowhere near a master. The difference now is that I am much more focused in my practice. I am actively working on the quality as well as the quantity. Returning to dance as an adult also means I can no longer rely on my natural flexibility and base talent. I didn't need to actively stretch when I was younger to be able to do the splits or a backbend. Now, this needs to be a purposeful part of my daily training if I want to get them back (I'm almost back to a full split on the left side!!!)

From this day onwards (a fitting start, as it is the 1st day of my birthday month), I will be tracking how many hours I dedicate towards dance. This will include classes, of course, but I will also be tracking dance-focused cross-training (weights/conditioning, Pilates), choreography, reading about pedagogy, etc.

To do this, I have ordered two giant glass jars from Amazon and a bunch of glass marbles. I will be filling the jars with 1 marble per hour that I dedicate to dance, with an elaborate color code. I look forward to sharing what my jar looks like at the end of this year, and every year forward! 😍