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Are You Still Immersed In The Process? How Content Culture Can Cap The Artist

 It felt so good to move, undulate, and slide into a deep second position to recoil into a contorted contraction. It truly felt like breathing. Surely, I adore codified technique. However, taking a contemporary class last night taught me way more than I bargained for. Get out of your headspace, get out of the mirror, ditch the "content concept" and just dance. I reckon that is my honest thesis. I felt like Jodie (without my Cooper) as I whisked across the floor. Throughout class I thought about the likes and wisdom of dancers like Robert Battle and Matthew Rushing. While dancing, I recalled both of their sentiments that included abandon and connection (to the floor, to the movement, to the work...) while dancing. Truly, I felt that. Suddenly, I am met with a challenge. Maybe it's culture or maybe its Maybeli — nope! It's definitely culture.  For about one minute, I wrestled with walking off of the floor, grabbing my phone, finding a proper angle to record, propping...
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The Hardest Thing About Dance

Yesterday I asked myself a question:

What is the hardest thing about dance? Have you ever thought about that? Well, it did not take long for me  to decide just how tough of a question that was to answer. After some time I spoke a version of these words into the voice memo application: 

The hardest thing about dance is accepting your body for where it currently is. "Your body" can be a piece of choreography, a certain step you're working at while training or how "in shape" your actual body is. I think the reason this could be one of the toughest parts— dance is such a vulnerable art and most definitely even more vulnerable as a profession. But the main way to overcome that difficulty is by embracing the beauty of your body. That is something I have had to learn. 

You also cannot compare yourself to other dancers. When it comes to looking at colleagues when I am questioning the technique of a step, I am comparing. When I feel the need to watch others in rehearsals so that I may learn or become inspired by their interpretation of movement, I am comparing. These are the only ways I have found comparison to be healthy. Any other way can lead you into a dark space.

Like anything in life, you take the hard things, encourage yourself and push until you prevail. 

Embrace where your body is right now. It’ll thank you with progression. 

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