4 Things I Always Carry When I Travel to Dance Events
We dancers travel a lot to festivals and other dance events. If you are like me, travelling with a low budget, you will only take a small bag with you. I joke that I have a master degree in preparing Dancer’s Bag as I fit in a small bag two dance costumes, jewelry, make-up, hair products, hair tools and all the normal stuff people need: jeans, blouses, shoes, pijamas, penties, bras, etc. As you travel you become master on knowing what you really need and can fit everything in a small bag - you bring the least possible, but these you cannot leave behind:
1. You need what I call a Sleeping Kit - neck pillow, blindfold and earplugs! These are necessary, I’m serious. It does not only come handy when we are in the plane and in the airport, but also in the bedroom. It’s super important that we have a good night sleep during festivals to have enough energy for workshops and performances. You never know what type of bedroom and roommate you will have (if you share the bedroom like I do) – some only sleep with the light on, others barely sleep and are on the phone all the time. Make sure you can isolate from all that and have a good night sleep with an amazing SLEEPING KIT.
2. Energetic Bars or any snacks to have in moments of need. Bring from your home country some snacks you can have during hard times. You barely have time between workshops and performances to buy food or go somewhere to eat and you can’t strive. So just bring small snacks to save you in those moments of need.
3. Bring a full charged Power Bank with you. We need battery on our phones to arrange for everything (see open restaurants, book taxis, see the best public transport to our destination, do the check-in for the flight, download boarding passes, etc) and of course to take a bunch of pictures and videos of the event! We generally only go to our bedroom during the night and in the venue is always difficult to find a free plug to charge our phone, with a power bank we solve that issue.
4. I will also advice you on bringing Earphones with you so you can practice dancing your choreography or improvisation or just listen to the music you are performing wherever you want without disturbing your roommate or any other person. It also comes handy in the airport and plane to watch videos and/or listen to music.
And these are the 4 things that I make sure I bring with me to dance events, besides all the other stuff we dancers need to have – dance costumes, jewelry, make-up, hair products, hair tools and all the normal stuff people need: jeans, t-shirts, shoes, pajamas, underwear, etc.
What about you? Do you do the same or is there other things you think are more important?
If you want to know more tips, but this time about the 5 Things You Should Do When You Go To An Oriental Dance Festival, read this post!