We asked the BuzzFeed Community for the unwritten struggles of being a dancer. Here are the results that'll knock your tap shoes off.
1.When you stretch just a little, every bone in your body cracks so damn loudly.
2.There is no pain like putting on your tights and leotard and tying up your pointe shoes — and then having to pee.
3.You have to dodge hundreds of stares when you go to a restaurant with your family after a recital.
4.And you can never wear open-toed shoes in public, because people are grossed out by your nasty ballet feet.
5.You cringe when someone says dance isn’t a sport — because it's probably the hardest sport.
6.You feel so #blessed when you have several costume changes over a short period of time during a recital. Except, not really.
7.And if you fall down during a performance, you have to pretend like absolutely nothing’s wrong.
8.The number of bobby pins you've bought and lost is pretty much equal.
9.Most of the time, you don’t know if your feet are bleeding, or if it's just too hot inside your pointe shoes.
10.Waking up sore is always confusing AF, because it always happens after a class that you swore was easier than usual.
11.Pretty much any money you earn goes toward leotards, classes, bun shapers, tights, and every other damn thing you need for dance.
12.You always seem to have the choreography to a dance stuck in your head when you're supposed to be sitting silently, like in school or at the movies.
13.Everyone gets so thrilled when they hear that you're a — gasp — GUY who dances.
14.If you're an adult and tell people you're a dancer, they usually automatically think you're a stripper.
15.When your instructor says "one more time," it actually means "until you get it right."
16.Being on your period and still having to wear a leotard is one of the least comfortable feelings in the world.
17.There are enough embarrassing photos of you in ugly costumes to last a lifetime.
18.When your teacher is looking, your pirouettes are guaranteed to look awful — but you manage to do five perfectly the second they turn around.
19.If your boobs are bigger than a B cup, every time you have to jump, you feel like this inside:
20.Your favorite teacher always corrects you in a way that hurts your feelings, but you still take their word as gospel because you respect them.
21.You're sure you'll always count in eights. Even while grocery shopping, everything is, "5, 6, 7, 8!"
22.The *one* time you decide to miss class is the week everyone learns an entire routine.
23.You look in the mirror once a week and realize you have a billion bruises, and you never have any idea what they’re from.
24.And most importantly, this phrase will forever be ingrained in your memory:
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