When you live as an artist you observe, you feel, you experience and you are aware of the highest highs and the lowest lows in life. It doesn’t matter really what you do for a living. For those destined to an artistic path, life manifests as a work of art no matter what you are doing. You could be an accountant, a lawyer, an engineer, or a student, anything...but as an artist, you have a point of view about ideas and emotion, you have interesting outlooks on everyday behavior, and your most mundane activities are sacred. Especially as a dancer or other performing artist, life is an open experiment. You, and everything about you becomes public property in a way. Perhaps that is why dancing is so compelling. The dancer is and becomes the work itself. A dancer feels and has the ability to magnify her or his experiences, and in doing so gives others permission to feel, to think, to analyse and to ponder. The dancer gives the spirit a voice, brings thought into action, and physicalizes the unknown. That is impact.
Ironically, as meaningful as dance is to those of us who practice, to many who only observe dance, the artform sometimes becomes only decorative, fun “entertainment.” (which is fine, but there is also more...) Or conversely, when viewing concert/artistic dance, the movement can seem confusing, abstract and difficult to “understand.” It does take some investment on the part of the audience to process the depth, but Modern Dance Pioneer Isadora Duncan points out, “if I could tell you what I mean, I wouldn’t have to dance it.” I wonder, who completely “understands” Beethoven or other classical music greats? We experience the art, we feel it, and sometimes works of art strike a chord in us, they ring true to our spirit and we “understand” even though we can’t explain why. The artwork (dance in our case) gives us a language other that words and an expression other than verbal. Our bodies become our voice... our anatomy - our grammar.
Oh no...here she goes with the philosophy stuff again....
That usually happens to me after we show/see the dances we have been working on since the beginning of the quarter. It seems amazing what we do - all these interesting ideas and dances are created with such limited time and resources. One of the challenges of working in the arts at a polytechnic university is that students have labs, projects and classes (darn academics...) that get in the way of rehearsals and casting opportunities. We have only one big fully staged and supported dance performance a year when we really need at least two. With only one dance studio (but it’s ours and we are so thankful for it), it means we rehearse at 7 am (yes really, just ask the students) and on Sun evenings. It means the show will be an epic if we take all the dances that audition.
Orchesis is full of wonderful inspiration, but is not without its drama, growing pains, disappointments and challenges. As in many dance programs at universities, the desire for quality and excellence doesn’t come without a price. This is college and what that means is that sometimes dancers don’t get roles they want .... sometimes they are not right for the part, their skills are not what is required, or their schedule and their priorities are not working with the rehearsal call.
Honestly, and sometimes sadly, the cold hard truth is that no one is “entitled” to any role because he or she is a senior, a past Orchesis member, a good student or a friendly face. A role in a dance is earned, and “luck is when opportunity meets preparation.”
- do they know that this is because we want them to be their most excellent, that we want the program to be strong for Their benefit??
Student choreographers are challenged to justify their choices, to clarify their movement, to dig deeper into their artistic intentions, and to make connections between their emotional, artistic, and intellectual lives?
- do they know it is because we want them to grow, to strengthen their artistic voice, to not settle for less than the best they can offer?
In college we hope and expect that discipline comes from self motivation and drive. Students are expected to listen to and apply feedback, to observe detail, and to push themselves. We want them to reach higher, be stronger and more powerful, and to be smart. As teachers we have other interesting things to share with them about art and about the body rather that just acting as their disciplinarians. We hope that self discipline is already in place.
-do they know it is because we want to share a wonderful world of dance with them?
Sometimes we have to tell students things they don’t want to hear - critiques and bad news.
- do they know we still care about them and think about them all the time?
- do they know that loss and disappointment doesn’t mean that an experience is bad, that it can still be valuable and fun?
- do they know that hard work and taking things seriously actually makes things more fun and satisfying?
Sometimes I forget they are 20ish and I am 43ish - some of them seem to worry if they are “liked,” (so do I, but not as much), I worry wondering if they grow, question and understand (perhaps so do they, but not as much).
They want frozen yogurt after a long day of rehearsal - I want a glass of wine.
And you thought we were just prancing around huh.........
Photo: Prem Ananda premphoto.com
