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E for EMOTION

Writer's picture: Manon HallayManon Hallay


As a dancer, I’ve always had difficulty dealing with my emotions and understanding what those emotions where trying to tell/teach me. Years later, with the maturity to see whats underneath these feelings, I can finally grasp how important and essential they are.

Your emotions are the fuel for your art.


You can use your emotions to give your performance dimension and connect with your audience. The moments where I can connect to my emotions and deep feelings as a performer, time stops. It’s like nothing else is around, and it’s just myself, what I have to give, and whoever is watching.


Unfortunately, in my training, I was told to be strong and that being emotional would get the best of me and make me act in ways that would take me away from my dream of being a performer.

And sadly, there are still a lot of dance teachers that train this way.

As I grow older, I am becoming increasingly aware of my emotions. However, I struggle to accept and manage them.


My fear of negative emotions often prevents me from fully experiencing and dealing with them ; in my dance and out.


I am currently on a journey to relearn how to understand and accept my emotions, particularly when they become overwhelming.


Each dancers I work with will hear this. It’s critical for them to understand that their strong emotions are not a weakness but rather a sign of strength.

As their coach, I aim to empower them to embrace their feelings and use them as a catalyst for positive change.

So, how do you accept your feelings and stop fighting against it? It all starts with acknowledging that vulnerability is not a weakness but instead, it’s your greatest asset. As a coach, I am here to guide young dancers on their journey towards self-acceptance and emotional empowerment.


Be emotional, feel, live, be whole with yourself and don’t let anyone make you think that those emotions are too much or make you weak.

These are you strength, power, identity and emotions come and go, if you dare to feel them they will pass to let a different emotion arise.


I will close on this explanation made by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor.

Emotions come and go, let them be and chose how you write your story.

“When a person has a reaction to something in their environment, there’s a 90 second chemical process that happens in the body; after that, any remaining emotional response is just the person choosing to stay in that emotional loop. Something happens in the external world and chemicals are flushed through your body which puts it on full alert. For those chemicals to totally flush out of the body it takes less than 90 seconds. This means that for 90 seconds you can watch the process happening, you can feel it happening, and then you can watch it go away. After that, if you continue to feel fear, anger, and so on, you need to look at the thoughts that you’re thinking that are re-stimulating the circuitry that is resulting in you having this physiological response over and over again.” -My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor.

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