Hi, This is something that I'm serious about,not a joke. I've been taking lessons for 10 months. It has become all I think about. If a class gets cancelled I get depressed. Going 2 weeks without a lesson makes me crash. I've become a slave to something that brings me the most joy I've ever experienced. Yesterday I broke down crying , realizing that I've let dancing take control of my life with me sometimes putting it before my family and almost making it my god. I'm to the point of just quitting cold turkey but I don't want to,of course. I have to find a way to practice it in moderation. Anyone else ever experience this and what did you do?Thanks.

Dancing is the most beautiful thing that ever happened 2 me, if i stop it for more than 1 month i get depressed and i feel that something is missing in my life.It's normal when dancing is ur passion.I have had many problems when i started dancing(family,boyfriend,career),but i decided never to quit and convince everyone that if i dance i'm happy!so enjoy your dancing classes,but remember that it's a part of your life,beside your family and your social life...

An addiction is not always a negative thing. Addiction could be devoting yourself to something habitually....or obssesively. Most people think or use the word addiction in connection with something undesirable. I see your 'addiction' as either a phase or a newfound passion. I started dancing about a month ago. Now I can't separate me from dancing. Music and dance steps are almost always in my head,urging. I take classes once a week and

same here.....i went through the same phase... couldn't stop thinking about it and i still cannot stop thinking about it. I have now paced my dancing goals making room for my career, family and other impt things. I know w/o dancing my life is a bore. dancing takes times and years to master and has a slow learning curve, and so i have come to terms that i have my whole life to learn. so i am just enjoying it.

As I was saying earlier I take classes once a week and wish that I could take them every day! I feel as if something is being taken away from me when I leave class, that I am leaving something too wonderful except through expression. Imlovinit, do you have a partner, someone in your family to dance with? Maybe that will help make it a part of your families life as well. I try to get some of my family members to try the dances at home, but I think that you have to get out there and take classes to really want to dance certain dances(not just the dances that we feel) I really don't see how quitting dance would help matters if it is something that you really love and feel that you need to do. I think that you should just give it time. You are still fairly new to this and affairs usually start passionately before they melt or balance out to a pleasing pace. I want you to know that the craziness that you feel about dance is felt by others too.

Thanks so much to all who have responded. Each one of your messages spoke to me and offered insight and brought peace. I won't quit dancing but I do have to "pace" myself. I'm 53 and feel that I don't have the luxury of knowing that I have a lifetime to purse my passion. That might contribute to the feeling that I have to learn everything right away. I've only been dancing 10 months.

Imlovinit. A lady whoses daughter rose very high in ballet once told me . If you put your daughter on the stage you will loose her . They enter into a different world to which we live in. For me it is Quote. Moving to beautiful music. Creating shapes in space. And joining into that wonderfull world of make believe. Go to it. You will be critised by people who don't understand, who then go off and play golf.

Hmm I let dancing become too important. Spend hours every day practicing at the studio and at home.
I miss it a bit now that I stopped (ok a bit more actually)...

Stavros,Do you mean that you completely stopped dancing or the practicing a few hours everyday?

completly stopped. last lesson was 28th june. tried to go out dancing with friends a couple of times since then... just felt completly out of place and slightly dissapointed with the local dance scene.