“The best is the enemy of the good.” This profound statement by the French writer and philosopher Voltaire was a favorite saying of a great dance mentor and friend. It means, she said, that striving for perfection is not necessarily the path to improvement.

I have learned through personal experience that dancers are very hard on themselves. Sometimes in their attempt to become better dancers students overlook the amazing things they can already do. They bemoan what they see as their physical shortcomings and scrutinize every square inch of themselves with heavy judgment. I know that I have.

With ballet in particular, dancers get sucked into the myth that what they do has to be perfect to be any good. Many students walk away from ballet because of this misconception. Although they understand that it will help their overall dancing, they feel less than perfect in ballet and therefore give…