In the form of a lyric essay, this chapter offers perspectives of artists across the field coping with the messages delivered, received, and absorbed in the dance world. From the atmosphere in the studio that primes the young dancer with particular ideas around his or her training, to the complicated and sometimes confusing conditions and processes of creating dances, this work discusses artists’ challenges with garnering support, with the steps toward and negotiations around being presented, as well as relationships with peers, the receipt and offering (or lack thereof) of criticism in both informal and formal arenas, and ultimately survival in their complicated, beloved field of dance. This chapter questions the psychological, material, and political conditions of practitioners in the field, offering its content as a means to consider the layered, complicated nature of choosing dance as a way of life in contemporary North America.