'Five, six, seven, eight...': Dancer memes for all dancing queens learning routines and forgetting their counts

Giuliana Tiscioni • Writer

Sep 2, 2026 7:45 AM EDT

As ABBA would say: "You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life."

Dancing is not only an art; it is a sport. And a very hard one. You need technique, strength, flexibility, control, musicality, and artistry, all combined at the same time, while making it look effortless, even as someone offstage is yelling at you to keep your core engaged and to smile bigger… Yeah, dancers are a lot stronger than people think.

I used to be a dancer, and I miss it greatly. The outfits, the music, the time spent in class, the hours training to get stronger and more flexible, the getting up at 5am to get ready for a competition… It was all crazy and wonderful. For your information, I only competed once. I indeed got up at 5 to get ready and to drive for two hours to get to the theater early enough to find a dressing room in which to change clothes. My friends and I were ecstatic. We helped each other put on our makeup and our costumes, and we explored the entire theater! The place was huge. Then, all the other competitors started coming, and the dressing rooms were suddenly overflowing with dancers, coaches, costumes, tutus, and glitter. Everybody was in a hurry; everybody was marking their choreo in whatever place they could find; the coaches were looking for the lists to see when their dancer's turn was to go on stage. In the middle of all that, there were wardrobe malfunctions, running makeup, hairpins misplaced, and warm up clothe scatterd around the floor. It was one of the most confusing, amazing, overstimulating experiences of my life, and I loved every second. I'm too old to do everything again now, but I carry that memory very close to my heart.

Anyone who has been on a dance competition can confirm this and share their own crazy stories. Because, trust me, there are insane stories happening behind the scenes, and every one is a little harder to believe than the last. This is why this time, I'm not telling you any more stories: I'm bringing you memes! Every dancer will relate to these; we all have shared experiences and a lot to laugh about our dancing years.