Annoying Dance Sayings Pt 2

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to disagree with Martha Graham. That would be stupid. Obviously she knew way, way, WAY more about dancing than I ever will, and that is why there's a ton of quotes from her on Pinterest and absolutely zero by me.

The problem with this quote isn't the quote itself, its in how people interpret it. People see this quote and they think "Well, I'm passionate about dance so that means I'm great! I'm gonna sit on the couch and watch a movie instead of drilling my arm work because I'm already awesome. Thanks, Martha Graham!"

I've fallen into this trap before. I'm a passionate dancer. I go to class several times a week. I emote all over the stage. I can talk about dance until I'm blue in the face. As such, there have been times where I've gone to a show and thought "Oh sure, she has great technique, but she's not showing a lot of passion in her dance. I'm sooooo much better than here." Well, that's just plain wrong. Great dancers have technique and passion. I can't just coast along on my passion and ignore the fact that my footwork is sloppy.

Great dancers are great because of their passion, but it's because a passion for dance drives you to be great. When you have a passion for dance, it's not enough to go to class on Wednesday night and then maybe practice once or twice between classes. Passion means you take all of the classes you can afford and you practice every day (when you can overcome your natural laziness, I'm talking to myself here, can you tell?). Passion means when you're the only one in class who can't do something, you ask your teacher for advice and then you go home, and you practice it in the mirror, and you cry and yell and stomp around the house when you can't get it right, because sometimes passion is a little sad and angry, instead of beautiful and lovey-dovey. Passion means sitting on the yoga mat cursing like a sailor because you're 30 seconds into a 2 minute stretch and your glute is cramping like a mofo, but you've got to work on your splits so you tough it out.

Passion means sometimes you go weeks or months without being able to really socialize with the non-dance people in your life, because you have class on weeknights and performances or workshops on weekends. Passion means sometimes you tell your spouse you'd rather stay home with a DVD than go to the movies, because you've got to work on your new costume. Passion means that you go to class in cheap Target yoga pants but perform in custom-made velvet skirts. Passion means that you give up an international vacation so you can save your money to study with great dancers. Passion means wearing pants and long skirts all summer because your knees are always covered in bruises from floorwork. For some dance forms, passion means you never wear sandals again because your toes scare small children.

Passion does not mean "Oh, I really like dancing and I'm SO emotional on stage."

Don't agree with me? Here's another quote from Martha Graham that you probably won't see on Pinterest:

"[When I stopped dancing] I had lost my will to live. I stayed home alone, ate very little, and drank too much and brooded. My face was ruined, and people say I looked odd, which I agreed with. Finally my system just gave in. I was in the hospital for a long time, much of it in a coma."

That's passion.

Annoying Dance Sayings Pt 1

I found a meme picture with a cute dog to soften my annoyance.

 

We've all seen and heard this one a lot, right? It's sometimes attached to a few other things, like living like there's no tomorrow and loving like you've never been hurt, etc etc. This can all be great and inspiring for normal life, but as a dancer I get so sick of seeing "Dance like nobody's watching."

 

Now don't get me wrong. There are times when it IS appropriate to dance like no one's watching. They include:

 

1. When you're a newbie in class and you're super nervous and you have to just tell yourself no one else is watching you.

 

2. When you have a new song you want to dance to, and you want to just FEEL it and see what movements work with it, before sitting down to really formalize your choreography or structured improv.

 

3. When you've got some emotions you need to work out, and you just turn on some music and dance so freakin' hard until you've danced it all out.

 

4. When you're at a party or a club and you want to just get down (but even then you have to be careful, because if you've told people you're a bellydancer, you don't want them to say "Oh, she claims she's a dancer but did you see what she was doing with her arms at Aunt Jane's wedding?").

 

However, there is a place where you should not "dance like no one's watching" and that is on stage. Once you've made the decision to be a performer, whether as an eternal amateur or a someday pro, you have made a commitment to always be "on" when you're dancing for other people. You've chosen to perform, so that means you have to perform. That means acknowledging the audience. That means that if you DON'T acknowledge the audience, it's because of a deliberate artistic choice*, not because you just felt like dancing for yourself. That means that if you're terrified of making real eye contact with the audience, you learn the tricks of faking eye contact.

If you get up on stage and dance like nobody's watching, you'll likely find that they aren't watching. Because if you don't dance for the audience, then they don't feel engaged. Likewise, if you're not dancing for the audience, you're probably not thinking about proper angles, and taking up space, and moving around the room/stage so that everyone gets a chance to see you in your full glory.

When you dance like nobody's watching, you do both yourself and the audience a great disservice. So if you've decided to dance for other people, then dance for other people! Acknowledge the audience. Share with them. To sum up the concept that I've heard from numerous great teachers, your dance doesn't have to shout "look at me!" but it should say "Hey, I know you're watching."

*Also if you're presenting a form of spiritual dance that isn't normally a performance art, and acknowledging the audience would be inauthentic, you should obviously make the authentic choice.