I attended the UDEO conference (Utah Dance Education Organization) at UVSC today. I have to admit, I was not overly excited to go. I hate giving up my Saturdays, especially when it involves driving (yet again) to the Orem/Provo area. The conference, however, proved to be a good experience for me. It gave me the opportunity to reconnect with some old friends, colleagues, and teachers who I haven't seen for a while. The keynote speaker, Sylvia Waters, was really interesting. She not only spoke of her experiences dancing with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre company, but she taught some repertory from Revelations--the piece of art that actually sparked my love for modern dance.
But the highlight of the day was in the afternoon session. I went to a contact improvisation class. What I love about contact improvisation is that each experience is different and new. You work as a community. You move from within and learn to communicate and trust people who you may or may not know. Within twenty minutes, you're moving in new ways, experiencing new kinesthetic sensations, and seeing the room, people, and yourself with new (or perhaps just different) eyes. It is beautiful.
Throughout the improv, I would meet up with one of my students from BYU where we developed some playful interactions. At one moment I was running toward this student, "ready to rumble," when all of a sudden she wrapped her arms around my waist and lifted me off the ground. There I was, upside down, suspended in the air. This short girl was able to hold me there for some time. In one of those fantastic moments where physics and art combine, I felt completely weightless; my student empowered. And in that brief moment that lingered like an echo, I was reminded once again why I do this thing called dance every day.
I am a dancer, but somehow that term--dance--just doesn't seem to do justice to the reality of what it entails. It's more than pretty shapes in space, cool steps, or sophisitcated coordination. It's movement that seeks to fill the fullest potential of the body that carries the motion through time. It's accepting what is and living out the energies of life through purpose and intent. It's emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual. It's not about being pretty or skilled or perfect. Rather, it's about simply being. It's about being Me within a community within a world where time moves on, lives pass by, and moments are constantly lost or overlooked. And yet, as I take a moment to breath out beats, step with purpose, and carve out a place in space where my Being can connect to everything that is willing to be touched, the dance bows out and life (time, space, and energy) forms into a visible shape that I can not only see, but feel. It is a feeling that goes as quickly as it comes, but it is those brief moments where I not only know I'm alive, but can feel life in every cell of my body, that motivates me to keep dancing. I dance because it connects Me. All of me.
I move because I'm alive, but I dance to feel life.
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