Artistry
So, as you guys may have noticed, I'm getting into the whole daily creativity thing, and really enjoying it. I want to take a moment to reflect on this.
Earlier this week, I committed myself to doing something artistic and creative every day. I'm beginning to realize just how many arts fields there are and how many I'm interested in learning. Last semester, I took a dance class, Modern I. My junior year of high school, I participated in bellydancing. When I was in elementary school, I was in a local gymnastics club thing. This semester, I'm taking a "Repertory and Performance" class with my dance professor from last semester. I like movement, but I don't think I ever really realized this before. It's so freeing to dance your heart out. There's a kind of truth released in dance that I have trouble expressing elsewhere. My dancelab group last semester choreographed a dance based on the stresses we were each experiencing. We performed in class, and got critique, and then did it again only different. The second time, we interacted more, did more of a push-pull type dance with each other. Both times, the experience was powerful for both us and the audience, and we were dancing for both ourselves and our audience. Our original choreography allowed us in the moment we choreographed it, to begin releasing stresses that had built up for each of us. When we danced it for the class, none of us were nearly as stressed, and the dance changed, to become more of an expression of tension, for the second performance. Tension we all experience. And that, too, released emotions.
Even in general, dancing, moving, can be so expressive, and in expressing, freeing. It becomes a meditation, a way to cry or rage or be happy with the whole body, in a very healthy way. It's another way to cope, yes, but it's a way that heals.
Just so with other arts. With a pen and paper (or my computer) I can tell stories that illustrate anything I want, in any way I want. Or, after looking at all the wonderful art on deviantART, I'm beginning to wish I knew how to draw well enough to illustrate ideas in my head.
Or music. I've been involved in music for as long as I can remember, and it's always been a stress-reliever. Last week I sang something on the spur of the moment in syllables that were nonsense to me, but also meant something, somehow--making me wonder just what is meant by the phrase "speaking in tongues." I can sing lyrics or melodies that apply to almost any situation, too, and it's wonderful. I love singing, I love music. I study music, I perform it and it's the best thing in the world when I do it.
Lately I've been taking photographs. I'm starting to understand some of the basic principles, and I think my shots are getting better. And I'm wanting to set up some still life photography as soon as I have an hour or two to spare to do it right. It's a long process to learn it, as with any art, but somehow I have an eye for it, the same way I have an ear for music, or the spirit for dance.
I wish, almost, that I could devote my life to learning and teaching the arts. And maybe I can, or will. Who knows? I'm already considering what it would take to become a teacher--which really started after my dance professor told me I'll be a great teacher someday. This surprised me, and yet...I think I know what he meant. Even if I don't become a teacher in name, I'll be teaching something, somewhere, and loving it.
That was rambly, I know. I'm just contemplating what it means to be an artist, and why I never noticed I was one before. I mean, I've been in band since fourth grade, music classes before that, and so on. But now I'm getting involved in other kinds of arts and realizing that I would be happy spending at least half of every day in some way involved in these things (I like other things too...like classes in math, religion, literature, etc). I mean, dance, photography, music, theater (which is still music considering my job is the musical director), wanting to take a drawing class...
Why did it take college to figure out that I'm a Humanities and Arts kind of person? ...then again, college is all about learning who you are, right? Right?
Earlier this week, I committed myself to doing something artistic and creative every day. I'm beginning to realize just how many arts fields there are and how many I'm interested in learning. Last semester, I took a dance class, Modern I. My junior year of high school, I participated in bellydancing. When I was in elementary school, I was in a local gymnastics club thing. This semester, I'm taking a "Repertory and Performance" class with my dance professor from last semester. I like movement, but I don't think I ever really realized this before. It's so freeing to dance your heart out. There's a kind of truth released in dance that I have trouble expressing elsewhere. My dancelab group last semester choreographed a dance based on the stresses we were each experiencing. We performed in class, and got critique, and then did it again only different. The second time, we interacted more, did more of a push-pull type dance with each other. Both times, the experience was powerful for both us and the audience, and we were dancing for both ourselves and our audience. Our original choreography allowed us in the moment we choreographed it, to begin releasing stresses that had built up for each of us. When we danced it for the class, none of us were nearly as stressed, and the dance changed, to become more of an expression of tension, for the second performance. Tension we all experience. And that, too, released emotions.
Even in general, dancing, moving, can be so expressive, and in expressing, freeing. It becomes a meditation, a way to cry or rage or be happy with the whole body, in a very healthy way. It's another way to cope, yes, but it's a way that heals.
Just so with other arts. With a pen and paper (or my computer) I can tell stories that illustrate anything I want, in any way I want. Or, after looking at all the wonderful art on deviantART, I'm beginning to wish I knew how to draw well enough to illustrate ideas in my head.
Or music. I've been involved in music for as long as I can remember, and it's always been a stress-reliever. Last week I sang something on the spur of the moment in syllables that were nonsense to me, but also meant something, somehow--making me wonder just what is meant by the phrase "speaking in tongues." I can sing lyrics or melodies that apply to almost any situation, too, and it's wonderful. I love singing, I love music. I study music, I perform it and it's the best thing in the world when I do it.
Lately I've been taking photographs. I'm starting to understand some of the basic principles, and I think my shots are getting better. And I'm wanting to set up some still life photography as soon as I have an hour or two to spare to do it right. It's a long process to learn it, as with any art, but somehow I have an eye for it, the same way I have an ear for music, or the spirit for dance.
I wish, almost, that I could devote my life to learning and teaching the arts. And maybe I can, or will. Who knows? I'm already considering what it would take to become a teacher--which really started after my dance professor told me I'll be a great teacher someday. This surprised me, and yet...I think I know what he meant. Even if I don't become a teacher in name, I'll be teaching something, somewhere, and loving it.
That was rambly, I know. I'm just contemplating what it means to be an artist, and why I never noticed I was one before. I mean, I've been in band since fourth grade, music classes before that, and so on. But now I'm getting involved in other kinds of arts and realizing that I would be happy spending at least half of every day in some way involved in these things (I like other things too...like classes in math, religion, literature, etc). I mean, dance, photography, music, theater (which is still music considering my job is the musical director), wanting to take a drawing class...
Why did it take college to figure out that I'm a Humanities and Arts kind of person? ...then again, college is all about learning who you are, right? Right?