As a kid, I didn't want to do things I wasn't good at out of fear of being judged harshly, criticized, or teased.  So, I would not even try because of the added shame of possibly being ridiculed.  I remember just fading away into invisibility in team sports, avoiding balls so as not to feel awful if I did not perfrom triumphantly.  Yet, I would have loved to feel a part of the team.  I would have loved to play with others. 

As an adult, I discovered and then led sessions in supportive basketball.... all attempts at passes, shots and dribbling praised and encouraged.  It was so fun to run, pass and shoot when there was no chance of being shamed.  It was pleasurable.  We would also eliminate many rules and scoring to make it more inviting to really play.

As an adult of 26/27 years old, I began my journey with (academic/performative) dance.  I started at a local community college, which offered mostly technique.  I had never studied something as physical as dance (as referenced above) nor art production.  I was pretty bad in technique classes.  A couple of times, I left the class crying.  It was awful to be trying so hard and 'not succeeding.'  I was so embarassed. But, I kept showing up, and taking more classes with more teachers.

Technique in art or in sports is just one of the aspects of the activity.  An important one, but not the only one.  In dance (and sports), there is also creativity, taking risks, experimenting and exploring, understanding of space, timing, energy, working with others, communication, analysis, and so on. All of these aspects are also important.... because I believe that dance is for all of us, as are sports, as is much all of life.  Whether our life has been limited by lack of access to resources, racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, ableism, transphobia, anti-your religion oppression (e.g. anti-Islam, anti-Jewish), oppression of men (yes this is real - being expected to fight and all that implies), etc. along with our individual circumstances in our family and culture, we could still consider attempting something we are not good at, yet calls to us.  Life is for exploration!