There are many, many things that I absolutely LOVE about teaching dance at the college level, especially introduction to modern classes. I am always delighted and amazed to share in the responses of my students as they are exposed to modern dance for the very first (for the majority of them) time. Each semester, my students are required to attend two concerts and write one paper in response to one of the two shows. I absolutely love what comes from these papers. As I was grading the other night, I felt that I had to share some of my favorite snippets...thought all my modern dancing cohorts out there would appreciate these. Brilliant, all of them...
After reflecting upon this dance performance, I came to a realization that I had a very narrow view of what dance really is.
This is what I love most about dance - it's capacity to tell stories in an intricate and artistic way.
Dance is about releasing emotions from your soul, about expressing a feeling or idea into the world.
...there's a fine line between dancing next to someone and dancing with someone, but when it's there, it's clear. Part of it has to do with physically extending from one's core, letting one's eyes light up and sending energy out the extremities, but there is another internal component. And audience can feel the difference between someone dancing for herself, a dancer whose energy is all being contained inward, and someone dancing in a generous, communicative way, whose energy is flowing out through each fingertip and every pore.
Ah, the ephemeral, mystifying, astounding world of modern dance. Love.
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