Dance - A Courageous Art
Originally published at Exponential Nothingness. You can comment here or there.
[ Upon returning to the blogosphere, I find I had this post in my unfinished posts section. Reading it months later, I’m posting it as is. It represents a time, a place…and to try and alter it now would not do it the justice of the expression of that moment. And to be honest, I don’t remember what it was about.]
I think we would be also pretty well served to consider dancing like traveling. We can look back at where we’ve come from. We can take a snapshot of where we are, and we can look at the map of where we are going. But we don’t know what that will look like when we get there. So we should embrace each stop along the way, recognize how it is different and the same.
And that is what makes up our dance, that is what gives it depth. If you are in the same place, and your travel has ended, then you only have the stories that you have learned up to that spot to tell in your dance.
If you view your travel as continuing over the horizon of what you know is out there, then think of all the tales you will have to tell in your movements!
I was completely floored when my private dance instructor called me a “professional” and “passionate” dancer. I immediately discredited that statement. Silly me. It wasn’t inaccurate. But for some reason, we cannot accept positive things well in our culture.
We have a huge image issue with embracing what we are, and where we are going RIGHT NOW. We are constantly looking back at how bad we were, or looking forward at what we are not yet. Thus, we limit ourselves by refusing to acknowledge the NOW. The pressure of the past and of the future keep us firmly entrenched, stagnant.
And I’d agree with mrsmalkav - others often try to keep you down if you do claim rightful titles, or dare label yourself. Thus the scramble for certifications in the bellydance community. It’s a dancer being able to say - see? I’ve got proof from some outside authority that I am worthwhile. Instead of looking at my dance, look at my papered walls. (please note, that I like certifications and am not dissin’ certifications. I’m questioning some dancers’ NEED to strive for certification rather than striving to be a better dancer. We all know people like this.)
There’s a difference between hubris and courage, but I think we’ve gotten it mixed up. It’s courage to strive for what you want, and to put yourself out there into a challenge. Hubris is to assume superiority, to enter a situation already putting oneself above the others.
More dancers should bite off more than they can chew. Right now they might say, “Look at her trying to be more than us.” But later they could all be saying, “Look at the chances she took to get where she is today. I wish I could be like her.” Do we even know where our limitations truly lie till we press beyond our horizons?
Dancers have to be courageous. Courage is the warp to the art we weave….Every step, every turn, every expression - an act of courage.