Benevolent Art: A Day Off Offers The Playtime I've Been Craving......

Benevolent Art: A Day Off Offers The Playtime I've Been Craving......: I realize that dance can only exist in a creative space for me…there is no simple “working out,” for the purpose of conditioning my body. My...

A Day Off Offers The Playtime I've Been Craving...

I realize that dance can only exist in a creative space for me…there is no simple “working out,” for the purpose of conditioning my body. My body’s condition is the result of a healthy creative space that urges me to continue to push, because it is joyful, curious, challenging. My body begins to let go when my mind has nowhere to play. It is not a practice of technique, but a practice of being. Therein lies the danger of falling into periods of play-less inactivity, most times sparked by the business of regular life and my busy existence as a dance educator. My biggest challenge is finding that creative play time when I am too tired to think anymore after a long day of teaching, trying to communicate the idea of significant play and my perception of how dance can be approached with the soul and the inquisitive mind, and not with the goal of ferocity. I hate that word, “fierce.” Are we trying to scare away those who have come to give us the privilege of their presence in our classes and at our performances? Are we attempting to frighten people into believing we are more than human, that we are somehow exempt from the limitations, ailments and the small, everyday triumphs (like waking up), “non-dancing” people have? Do we believe our art form so amazing (not to be confused with special or sacred, because it is quite), that we would separate ourselves from the very people we say we wish to connect with? Verve. DyNaMiC Sentience. Isn’t this what we would rather share, and invite others to take part in?