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The Joy of the Unexpected
Dances are planned from beginning to end but they often end up somewhere unexpected. One can’t predict all the stumbling blocks, such as a misplaced stage light or a broken shoe strap, that lead to necessary workarounds. There are also unanticipated moments of surprise and joy, such as being able to hold a balance pose…
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Happy Dance
Have you ever received some hoped-for good news (getting a promotion or raise, your crush calling you for a date, a game win or something else) and broken out into a spontaneous happy dance? Perhaps it looked like one of these: Happy Dance GIFs – Find & Share on GIPHY. Or perhaps it was your…
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Perfect Lines
Dance can be accessed and appreciated in a number of different modalities, from the lived experience of the dancer to the audience-member spectator who does not have sustained and expert dance training and exposure themselves. If you think of dance as something that comes from the inside out you are more likely to think of…
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Dancing in Music
Dancing in music is an immersion experience. It’s not reducible to either conforming dance movements to beats of time or a layering a visual component on top of an audible score, although of course it can be both of these things. Dancing in music is like swimming in a way that makes use of, or…
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A Dancer Is Not A Person Who Dances
What’s the difference between a person who dances and a dancer? Let’s start with a person who dances. A person who dances: Will socialize with non-dancers. Might have short hair or long hair. Listens to their body’s cues, and stops when something hurts. Will consider nutrition but does not diet. Is a “normal” person. May…
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A New Pair of Pointe Shoes
A needle and thread, a match, a razor blade. A needle and thread sewing elastic ankle bands and ribbons. A match melting ribbon edges before they unravel. A razor blade scratching the slippery shanks. Sweating, blistering, and bleeding in shoes that are softening, softening, softening, perfect, too soft! At the end of the…
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A Ballet Friendship
K was a girl in my class at ballet summer camp who I studied every single day. I studied the way her shoulder muscle cut into her upper arm (I had no muscle definition myself). I studied the elevation she was able to achieve in jumps. I studied the way she wore her leotard (with…
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Children Dance
Have you ever danced with a child at a wedding? Children who dance are wonderfully free in their movements and intuitive. They can mimic most non-complicated movements and they can feel rhythm. When my daughter was a baby on my lap, she would flap her arms when she was happy or excited and when there…
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Why Ballet Isn’t Popular
Dancing on stage for an audience is frightening. It removes the mirrored fourth wall and opens up a black cavern into the audience, one that is in the dark. They can see you, but you cannot see them, except for a vague outline of heads. Sometimes you can see only the glowing exit sign in…