Do NOT Limit Yourself: Abigail on Competitive Dance, Teaching, and Finding the Next Opportunity

What happens after a dancer graduates from competitive dance? For Abigail, the answer is not to stop dancing—it is to keep learning, teaching, training, connecting, and saying yes to opportunities that might lead somewhere new. After nearly 12 years of competitive training, she is beginning choreography, teaching at her home studio, and building toward a professional dance future while staying open to every direction dance can take her.

Her story is also a reminder that dancers are not just one thing. They can be artists, athletes, teachers, choreographers, organizers, community builders, and students for life. Abigail’s advice is simple: do not limit yourself, jump at opportunities, keep training, take care of your body, and keep making real-world connections.

a note from the interviewer, Prisha:

my jaw DROPPED when abigail told me she did nearly 20 routines her senior year, including five solos 😭

but her biggest message was: do not limit yourself. you don’t have to stick to one style, program, studio, or version of what a dancer is supposed to be.

that mindset inspired me to start DanceVibes and danZING while building a path outside the traditional dance world.

TL;DR

•Abigail sees one of the biggest misconceptions about dancers as the idea that they fit into one box; dancers are also artists and athletes.

•Years of assistant teaching helped her move naturally into lead teaching, choreography, and teaching competitive solos.

•Be Discovered gave her scholarships, industry classes, performances, and connections, including experiences in Florida, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.

•Her advice for graduating dancers is to pursue opportunities wherever they appear, keep taking class, and never assume it is too late to learn a new style.

•Her practical competition wisdom includes arriving early, claiming a corner, carrying a hot glue gun, and even bringing a pop-up laundry bin for trash.

Meet Abigail: A Competitive Dancer Entering Her Teaching Era

Abigail is 17, based in Alberta, and has trained as a competitive dancer for almost 12 years. After recently graduating high school, she is teaching at her home studio, beginning to choreograph, and planning to pursue dance professionally as soon as she can.

Her next chapter is not a complete departure from the one before it. Abigail has been preparing for teaching since she was young, starting as an assistant in pre-dance classes at about 12 years old. That early experience gave her a gradual way into teaching rather than asking her to take on everything at once.

Dancers Are More Than One Thing

When asked what non-dancers often misunderstand, Abigail immediately returned to one idea: people can limit dancers to a single identity. She believes dancers need to challenge that limitation in their own thinking, too.

“Lots of the time people limit dancers to just like one thing, and I think it's so important to keep the message in our own heads as dancers to not limit ourselves.”

For Abigail, the problem is not only that dancers are seen as “just dancers.” It is that they are often not recognized as artists and athletes at the same time. She wants dancers to look more deeply at what their training, creativity, physicality, and range actually mean.

That message applies inside the studio as much as outside it. A dancer may believe they are only good at one style, but Abigail argues that versatility is possible even when trying something new is difficult. The challenge is not proof that a dancer cannot do something; it is part of learning how to do it.

How Assistant Teaching Made the Transition Easier

Abigail says the transition from competitive dancer to teacher was not especially difficult because she had already spent almost five years assisting at her home studio. She started with younger pre-dance students alongside a lead teacher, which let her learn the responsibilities of teaching without taking on too much too early.

She later began lead teaching a structured program called Ready Set Dance. Abigail describes it as a strong program for younger dancers because it has a clear structure, its own app and brand, and a central place for everything students and teachers need.

The practical lesson is useful for dancers who want to teach: start by assisting, observe how a class works, build confidence with younger students, and take on more responsibility as you are ready. Abigail also knew from a young age that she wanted to teach in some capacity, whether immediately after high school or later.

Abigail’s Early-Career Teaching Lessons

Her biggest lessons are discipline, scheduling, and accountability. She also believes passion has a visible effect on students. When a teacher shares genuine love for what they are doing, that energy can show up in the students’ own development.

“You always have to remind yourself why you love doing what you're doing.”

This year, Abigail began teaching competitive solos and creating choreography for them over the summer. She is especially excited to see her students perform the work onstage.

The Emotional Shift From Competitor to Instructor

Abigail has not yet competed as a dancer since graduating, and she says it was “so insanely hard” to grasp that she would no longer be competing after doing it for so long. She began competing at four, trained in all styles, and regularly carried a large number of competitive dances each year. In her final year, she competed in 21 different dances.

That number captures how deeply competition shaped her life, but the transition also shows the continuity between being a student and being a teacher. Abigail describes her studio as a large dance family and community, with teachers and dancers ultimately working toward the same thing.

“It’s really cool to just be a teacher and not, you know, just a student anymore.”

She is still at the beginning of her instructor journey—she has not yet attended a competition as a lead instructor—but simply knowing that she is now a competitive instructor on her team feels significant. She is not leaving the competitive dance community; she is seeing it from a new side.

Hip Hop, Self-Choreography, and Learning by Doing

Abigail began with a jazz solo, moved into hip hop, and kept adding more each year. Hip hop is her favorite style and the area she most wants to focus on and pursue. Eventually, she was doing five solos and began creating her own choreography for competitions at around 13 or 14; the exact age is unclear in the recording.

“Hip hop is my favorite style of dance.”

Making her own solos at a young age gave Abigail experience she can now bring into teaching. She learned through creating, performing, adjusting, and living with the choices inside her own choreography. That experience has become part of the foundation for the work she is doing with students now.

The larger transition is both emotional and exciting: she has graduated from competing as a dancer, but she is looking forward to being a teacher in the next competition season.

Be Discovered: Scholarships, Training, and Early Industry Exposure

Abigail describes Be Discovered as a large training program with some similarities to a talent agency. Her first opportunity came through a scholarship she received at a dance competition when she was nine. She cannot remember which competition awarded it, so that detail remains unclear.

The scholarship took her to Florida for about a week. There, she performed in Disney World and took classes with industry professionals. At nine years old, she was getting an early glimpse of what the professional dance world could look like.

The following year, she received another scholarship, this time for the Desert Flow Dance Intensive. The experience included several days in Las Vegas and the remainder of the trip in Phoenix. Compared with the Florida trip, it was more hip hop-focused, which made it especially meaningful to Abigail because hip hop is her passion.

After COVID interrupted the possibility of using additional scholarships, Be Discovered invited Abigail back this year on an alumni scholarship. She had recently returned from another Desert Flow Experience when the interview was recorded.

Why Abigail Recommends the Program

Returning when she was older allowed Abigail to understand and absorb the experience more fully. She saw shows in Las Vegas, took classes from industry professionals, trained in workshops with Hip Hop International, and watched world hip hop battles. She sees the program as a way for young dancers to get more than what they may encounter at their home studio and begin building connections with people from different parts of the dance world.

“It’s a great just way to get your foot in the door with meeting different people and just making great, really great connections.”

The Michael Jackson Show, Private Lessons, and the Power of Proximity

The biggest Be Discovered highlight for Abigail to choose was ultimately the Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas. After training all day, the scholarship group went to see the show together. She describes it as one of the coolest things she has ever seen.

The experience went beyond watching a performance. Abigail also took private lessons from people who had worked closely with Michael Jackson and who were currently in the show. She found it “mind-boggling” to be in the same room with professionals doing that work for a living and to learn directly from them.

After training classes, the dancers had 20- to 30-minute industry question-and-answer conversations. Abigail learned not just about dance, but about the professionals’ personal experiences and how they got their own foot in the door. She also took class from Allison Burke, whom she identifies as a performer in the Michael Jackson Cirque show.

For emerging dancers, the lesson is not that one show or one intensive guarantees a career. Abigail’s story points to something more specific: proximity can make the professional world feel real, and conversations with working dancers can teach lessons that technique class alone cannot.

How Abigail Used Dance to Raise Money for a Local Food Bank

Abigail recently began hosting dance classes as part of a local fundraiser. In Medicine Hat, the local food bank hosts an event called The Amazing Race For Hunger. Teams run around the city on foot, complete challenges, interact with local businesses, and raise money for the food bank.

For the event, Abigail hosted mini and junior dance classes. She did not know how many people would attend, but she posted the classes and saw many younger dancers show up. The result was a successful fundraiser that contributed a large amount of money to the local food bank.

Her advice for dancers who want to organize something similar is direct: do not wait until you feel perfectly qualified. The money raised is going to a good cause, and the most important first step is putting yourself out there and trying.

“You should just ignore that and just, you know, do what you love especially if it’s for a good cause.”

A Simple Starting Point for a Dance Fundraiser

Abigail’s example suggests a practical sequence:

1.Choose a cause you genuinely care about.

2.Decide what kind of dance class or event you can realistically host.

3.Share the opportunity instead of trying to predict the turnout.

4.Welcome the dancers who show up and focus on the purpose of the event.

5.Let the cause—not the pressure to be perfect—define the value of the class.

These steps reflect what Abigail actually did. They do not require a master class, a large platform, or a claim that you know everything. They require a willingness to organize something useful and invite people into it.

Advice for Seniors Finishing Competitive Dance

For dancers approaching their final year of competition, Abigail returns to the message she has repeated throughout the interview: do not limit yourself. She recognizes that not everyone wants to keep dancing after school, and she makes room for that choice. Her advice is specifically for dancers who are looking for more opportunities after their senior year.

If an opportunity appears—whether it is outside a dancer’s hometown or close to home—Abigail believes dancers should seriously consider going for it. Opportunities are not always available forever, but pursuing one can create access to more doors later.

She also encourages dancers not to stay inside the styles they already know. A dancer with training in ballet, jazz, and tap can still explore commercial dance, hip hop, or another unfamiliar area. Post-secondary training programs, classes, and new connections can all provide ways to keep learning after graduation.

“Even if you think you’ve learned absolutely everything you can, I promise you there is always more to learn.”

Her view of graduation is not an ending point. It is a moment when dancers can choose new teachers, new styles, new rooms, and new goals.

The Competition Bag: Hot Glue Guns and Personal Trash Cans

When asked about the most random thing in her dance bag, Abigail’s answer becomes a perfect snapshot of competitive-dance preparation. She and her sister had three extra-large competition duffles between them, plus a separate suitcase for hair and makeup. Inside, they might have a hot glue gun—along with nearly anything else needed to repair a costume.

Her family’s bags became a studio resource. If someone needed something unusual at a competition, Abigail and her sister were likely to have it. That included the ordinary essentials and the “crazy stuff” nobody thought to pack until something went wrong.

Then there was the pop-up laundry bin. Because competition dressing rooms can be crowded and shared garbage fills quickly, the studio began packing collapsible laundry bins in their duffels. Once they set up their costumes, they opened the bins and used them as personal trash cans.

The studio’s preparation also included arriving hours before call time to claim a corner and set up three duffles, the makeup case, costumes, and anything else they might need. Abigail’s rule is simple: you can never be too prepared.

Abigail’s Dream Dance App: Put Auditions in One Place

DanceVibes asked Abigail what kind of app or website would genuinely help her as a dancer. Her answer was not another vague social feed. She wanted one place where dancers could find audition and opportunity listings relevant to their province or state.

The problem, as she describes it, is fragmentation. Opportunities can arrive through different websites, brands, companies, and Instagram messages. Keeping track of everything can become overwhelming, especially when dancers are manually maintaining spreadsheets or moving between many different tabs and platforms.

Her ideal tool would let dancers search and filter the listings for the jobs they actually want. She also likes the broader idea of gathering related resources in one place, even while acknowledging that the perfect all-in-one system may not exist yet.

This is a strong example of a dancer identifying a real operational problem: the issue is not always a lack of ambition or talent. Sometimes the opportunities are difficult to find because the information is scattered.

Abigail’s Final Advice: Keep Training, Protect Your Body, and Build Real Connections

Abigail’s closing advice brings the whole conversation together. Do not limit yourself. Jump at new opportunities. Never stop taking class or training. Put your training first and take care of your body.

She also emphasizes growth and connection. Dancers should keep learning, reach out to people, and meet dancers and teachers from different studios and programs. Online presence matters—Abigail says “your Instagram is now your resume”—but she still believes in the value of meeting people face to face and taking class in real rooms.

“Do not limit yourself in any capacity.”

“Your training should come first and taking care of your body should always be super important.”

“I think it’s super awesome to, like, meet people in person and to just go take class.”

For a dancer trying to move toward professional work, Abigail’s advice is both ambitious and grounded. Keep improving, but do not treat your body as an afterthought. Build an online presence, but do not let online platforms replace human relationships. Chase opportunities, but stay a student.

FAQs

What advice does Abigail have for dancers after graduation?

She recommends not limiting yourself, pursuing opportunities wherever they appear, continuing to take class, and staying open to styles and training programs outside your previous experience.

What did Abigail experience through Be Discovered?

She received scholarships that took her to Florida, Las Vegas, and Phoenix for performances, classes, intensives, workshops, shows, and conversations with industry professionals.

How can a dancer start a charity class or fundraiser?

Abigail’s advice is to choose a cause, put the class or event out there, and not wait until you feel perfectly qualified. She believes the cause and the willingness to try matter more than presenting yourself as an expert. \

What should dancers keep in their competition bags?

Abigail’s competition setup included large duffles, a separate hair-and-makeup suitcase, costume-repair supplies such as a hot glue gun, and even a pop-up laundry bin for trash.

Does Abigail believe dancers should keep taking class after graduation?

Yes. She says dancers should never stop taking class or training, should keep growing, and should continue making connections with people from different studios and programs.