Laurianne Provost: How to get organized and raise your level in urban dance

Laurianne, a 4th grade high school student, is planning to become a specialist doctor for children. A journey that is usually long, but doesn't intimidate her at all, since she knows how to achieve her goals. Dreams, she has plenty, and it has always been the case! Several relate to dance, which she started at 2 years old. She quickly became curious abaout all styles offered in recreational dance. "I was always in the need for more!" She recalls, thinking of her early years. The first competitions arrived at the age of 8, when her passion for dance grew up to a much larger scale. Dancing to be better than the day before, improving your ranking from the previous year, succeeding in making this difficult movement, all become real goals. Each new day becomes an opportunity to improve. But to bring dancing to a high-level sport, the self organization must be there!

Build a schedule in line with your goals

Once a dream is born, and when you want to realize it, it becomes a goal. The more ambitious the objective, the more important it is to plan and organize it in order to achieve it. At least that's what Laurianne did around the age of 10. She set herself the goal of competing with the best Hip Hop dancers in the world. As most studios are offering multiple levels for both recreational and competitive dance, it would be best to find a program that will fit our needs and goals. Laurianne had the chance to poursue her dreams with the studio Tendanse, which has also International ambitions. If the step is too high to access high level teams, several hours of various training can be helpful. We must therefore take advantage of our free time. Beyond the evenings, we think of long weekends and of course, summer time. Some Montreal studios specialize in open classes on weekday evenings (including Tripoli , DTJIC and SPT Mtl ) which can be paid by the class, for less than $20. You can also find occasional workshops that are offered in many regular studios. Simply regularly review your favorite choreographers or studios social networks. If you want to take advantage of a long weekend, Laurianne strongly recommends daring the experience of a getaway to New York to do some open classes at the legendary Broadway Dance Center . Dozens of classes are available every day, for different styles and levels. The coaches are all professional dancers and the advice we could benefit from is priceless! She promises you will get out of your comfort zone! During summer time, several studios offer improvement camps, especially for the youngest (12 and under). Some also offer advanced camps for all ages, in the form of bootcamps. This is the case of the Studio Party Time with the PNT camp , in which Laurianne participated 2 times. We mainly learn different urban dance techniques, we experience battles and freestyle as well as a simulating a professional audition. Further north of Montreal, Propulsion offers a very intensive camp with Ricky St-Jusna. The level of this camp is particularly high. For experienced dancers only! The Shake studio, directed by Team White (big winners of the first season of Revolution) is also to watch!

And there are many others… With all the options available in Quebec, you can build a schedule of 40 hours / week all summer! To find out more, don't hesitate to write to our favorite dancers to ask what they have to offer. They will only be encouraged by the interest shown to them! Such hard work will not only be helpful to reach our goals, but also broaden our horizons in a dance perspective.

School adaptation

Increasing the level of dance and being part of the best competitive teams often comes with a significant increase in dance class hours. Adding all these hours necessarily has an impact on school organization. Unless you are part of a sport-studies program already planned for this purpose, planning is sometimes necessary with the school administration and the teachers. Most schools are very open to supporting a student, conditionally to have a valid objective (like the one of qualifying for the World Hip Hop Championships, as it was the case for Laurianne and her team T.ACOS in 2017 and 2018). The school will also need to validate the hours of training and competitions with the studio to approve the absences or homework extensions. For such measures to be sustainable, you have to be willing to work hard and make some sacrifices. Missed schoolwork will not appear as if by magic ... We must therefore expect to do homework early in the morning, during lunch hours and if necessary in the car! Being efficient becomes the key. Another tip from Laurianne is to eat a healthy breakfast each day and small snacks between school classes to promote concentration in the classroom. Good Assimilation of theory and practice during school hours allows her to reduce home studying hours. Obviously, the hours spent in dance also decrease the time for school friendships. "Yes, it may seem like a difficult concession at first, but in the long run we create a social life especially around dance, and we realize that the relashionships are particularly strong given the incomparable emotions that we live together », Explains Laurianne.

Prepare your competitions

A competition is a time for joy and excitement for most dancers. In addition to being the culmination of a full season of hard work, it is an opportunity to celebrate with our friends who share the same passion as us. To enjoy and take advantage of these events, it is important to prepare adequately. A good organization will reduce the stress that necessarily comes with competitions. These often take place over 4 or 5 days, and absences from school are sometimes inevitable. When this is the case, it is better to plan in advance with your teachers the material and the homework that will be covered, in order to bring everything necessary with you. Determining from the start a few quiet time slots in the hotel room for doing remote work will help not procrastinate. It is also necessary to provide a list of each piece of costume, accessories, makeup and hairdressing items (think of additional reserves!) to bring. Laurianne has her little routine the day before leaving for a competition: "As I often have several numbers to present, I make a checklist of all my costumes and accessories that I recheck the day before departure, then I make several healthy snacks. Just before going to bed, I sit quietly with headphones to listen to my choreograhies mixes and do visualization. ”

Lifestyle

Having a healthy lifestyle will promote the functioning of such a schedule. Eating well, giving importance to sleep, avoiding accumulating tasks, are good examples. Although suppers are often taken in the car or at the dance studio as far as Laurianne is concerned, she makes sure to start each day off with a full breakfast, and to plan a good balanced lunch. As she has a lot of schoolwork to do outside of normal school hours, she prefers to use the mornings and lunchbreaks to make up the surplus, so as to make sure that she is always in bed at 10:30 p.m., maximum! Sleep is one of her priorities. Being efficient in each of her tasks is also part of the solution. Despite all this discipline, a little free time is of course necessary, even if it is getting rarer at times!

Laurianne's need to surpass herself never seems to take a break, and she has just finished last January 2020 The Teen Program by Andy Michel, which specifically aims to prepare the dancers for a professional career. She actually plans to add a few contracts to her already impressive career at her age (2 World Championships, Revolution season 1, the mammoth awards gala, En Direct De L'univers, and more…). The advice she would like to give to all those who want to increase their level: "If you have dance dreams, you should not be afraid to work hard to achieve them, and not be discouraged when the difficult times come . There may be moments of doubt, but we have to hang on and take the time to remember our dreams. ”