What Catches a Dancer When They Fall?

Do you use the mirror

or does the mirror use you?

What happens when you fall out of a pirouette?

When the choreography slips?

When your body doesn’t do what you expected?

The mirror may reflect the fall.

But self-worth is what catches us.

So many dancers are taught to use the mirror as a judge.

As proof.

As permission.

But what if the mirror was just information?

Not identity.

One of the most powerful shifts we make in class is helping dancers reconnect inward.

Sometimes that looks like turning the lights low.

Sometimes it means facing away from the mirror entirely.

Sometimes it’s simply asking, “What do you feel?” instead of “How did it look?”

I’m getting emotional remembering a moment like this.

A student fell out of a turn.

There was a pause.

And then something beautiful happened.

Her peers erupted in cheers.

Louder than usual.

The way she finished that dance reconnected her to her own power.

To a self-worth that didn’t disappear when she fell.

So what catches us when we fall?

Ourselves.

And when we forget, we remind each other.

That’s what community does.

It applauds the mistakes even louder.

Let me ask you this:

When was the last time YOU caught yourself after a fall?

And is that why so many of us are terrified to be fully seen?

On a stage. In a studio. In our own lives.

Because we’re so afraid that no one will catch us?

Because we’re only looking at the mirror that shows the fall instead of seeing ourselves

—the one who’s always there to stand up?

I think that’s what private sessions in dance classes do.

They can strengthen our ego (the mirror),

OR we can use them to focus on something deeper.

Strengthening our relationship with ourselves.

Nurturing the type of self-love that doesn’t need to hide in a group or shrink when eyes are watching.

The kind that feels alive being exactly who we are.

Private sessions offer space to move alone, to listen closely, and to build a relationship with your own power.

Four hours of exploration.

Four hours of trusting the body.

Four hours where “mistakes” often become the most meaningful moments.

This dance always reminds me what fierce, unapologetic self-love looks like:

→ Click Here to watch Rhythm’s solo