To be annoyed when people who dance dance for fun call themselves dancers?

[Bookmonster345]

I've been looking at some of my DDs friends Instagram accounts, and noticed them repeatedly call themselves 'dancers'. AIBU to get annoyed at this? After all, if you were a professional dancer, would you not hate people who just dance for fun labelling themselves in the same way you are labelled, despite the fact as a professional dancer you have put in a lot more work?

Think you'll be hard pressed to find anyone who really cares TBH!
oh, YABU

What about lapsed professional dancers who dance for fun?

You mean people describing their hobby as a career?

In a way yes, I can see why that will annoy.

Most people won't give a shit though.

YABU.

I run, therefore I am a runner. I may be crap at it but I still run! Same goes for people who dance

YAB a bit U.
Instagram is hardly their CV. Ask yourself; if they were speaking about themselves in a more serious/professional way or comparing themselves to a dancer with experience/qualifications would they still describe themselves as dancers?
Do they have a job? If not and dancing is something they spend the majority of their time doing then I guess that describing themselves as dancers is probably mostly accurate. Armature dancers. Unpaid dancers.

YABU.

I am a musician, a bandsman.

No one pays me to do it, I do it purely for fun but I still would describe myself as such.

I get why it's annoying, I'm the same with girls who take a few selfies/find a guy with a camera and start calling themselves 'models' - especially 'alternative models', they're the worst. Unless you're getting paid or published, you ain't a model. So yeah, I get it.

People like Nicole Kidman ?

Completely pointless post sorry,but it just reminded me of that advert.

Are these kids that we're talking about?

My Dd is 11, she dances upwards of sixteen hours a week. She has danced in amateur theatre, professional theatre and yes, she finds all of this fun. Is she wrong to call herself a dancer? She also sings, and calls herself a singer. Most of the time she calls herself a performer.

I think you are being unreasonable.

I know what you mean OP and have witnessed the same with music.
It's even worse when its your livelihood and some office worker picks up an instrument and goes out doing weddings, under cutting the price a professional would charge, hence taking work from the real musicians.
I often wonder how they would like it if somebody went to see their boss and offered to work for half their salary, making them redundant.
So yes, I understand that amateurs and semi pro's should know their place.

YABabitU. Where do you draw the line? I've been paid for singing in the past, same for acting, but I've not done massive concerts or been in a feature film. Should I not call myself a singer and actor, even though I've been paid and am currently studying performance as my degree?

Same with writing; I've been published - at a paid level and an unpaid level. So where do I stand in terms of calling myself a writer?

thatwhich

You are the anti christ to professional musicians I'm afraid
There again, you do say you don't get paid for it, so its fair enough.
What is your job though and why call yourself a musician? I have often wondered this. I don't call myself a walker because its not my profession, although I do walk most places I go.

Morethan surely someone who plays music is a musician? You cannot define whether someone is a musician by their level of technical skill (or quite a few successful artists would not make the definition). Equally you cannot define it by whether someone makes a living from it. I know several incredibly skilled amateurs. You are being incredibly defensive.

Arf at Nicole Kidman milkandcereal

Surely if someone can do your job for half the cost, when they already have a day job, then you are perhaps not worth what you think you are.

I don't think you're unreasonable.

It's like when people say they are models. No - you're not a model you paid for someone to take some photos of you.

And just because someone may have been in a film 25 years ago doesn't mean they can still call themselves an actor

Do I win a prize for the most pointless AIBU of the day? It's good to hear a variety of opinions though

morethan I play in two bands and yes the bands get paid for performing (either as one off fees or as tickets for a concert). I can't see why a professional would be annoyed that I call myself a musician. And don't care either. When I spend most summer weekends playing music I think
I'm entitled.

Oh and I couldn't care less if someone calls themself and accountant.

Actually though my dd has a few girls she follows on Instagram from Aus and US and they dance 25-40 hours a week often being homeschooled and travelling all over the world/country. A bit extreme in my eyes but they are all around 12-16 years old and I don't think it's unreasonable of them to call themselves dancers as it is their whole lives. My dd dances around 10 hrs a week at 16yrs old and my nine year old around 8 hrs however I don't think they'd describe themselves as dancers , they'd say 'I do dancing'. These girls are prob just being, as many are on social media, a bit poser-y and projecting their ideal image. Nothing so wrong with that really if it doesn't directly affect you but it can be a bit grating.

Tinkly

I am very defensive as I live with this through my dh all the time.
It must be so soul destroying for your immense talent and lifes work to be compared to an amateur who has a day job.
I hear a lot of musicians talking about this and the fact that standards have been dumbed down, due to x facor and BGT, joe public can't tell the difference now unfortunately so those who aren't so good can take the work.
I was joking about musicians going into offices and doing job for half the money but that is the equivalent.

If you dance, you are a dancer. Even if its just for fun.

Who really cares?

Yabu

Why would you be upset about this? Even if one were a professional dancer, singer, whatever - it doesn't negate your professional achievement. You get paid for what you do - the amateurs do not.

People are always exaggerating and embellishing themselves and their lifestyles. Just smile and nod.

... unless of course they tell you they are a traffic warden; if they tell you that, go and check that you're not committing some sort of parking infraction.

It's funny how you can always believe somebody who tells you that they're a traffic warden to actually believe that they are... nobody seems to lie about that?