What we must do....

I always found this very curious about dance:

Often, in music, now, with its industry, the goal is to produce and perform as much as possible. Make, perform, and sell music everywhere!

With poetry, the goal is to write, publish. Make more poetry, write it down, and sell it! Perform it, sell it…

But with dance, the goal is a little different. With dance, the goal is to dance: to be dancing. You are not evaluated on your product, but on your ability to dance, or more importantly, your dance practice. The goal, then, is to dance everyday – and as much of the day as possible.

If you produce dance, then you are enacting choreography. If you are performing, then you are a performer. If you are thinking and writing about dance, then you are a critic or theorist. But, in dance, we do not really make something to sell. We are players in the artistic existence of dance.

The possible product, “the performance”, requires immense amounts of work and strain—and is organized by many players. (A solo show is rare and strenuous…)

The dancer is a kind of artist, like a classical musician, who is a player in a larger game of art. He is not a necessarily a producer of a product.  And his practice must continue to grow and evolve—his practice must be expansive and prolific. The accumulation of accomplishments, of shows and collaborative work, are artifacts of his practice. But what is important, is not that he has performed great roles, but how those roles have evolved him, and how he continues to work with himself and others.

The dancer is not “about” the accumulation of “paintings, poems, or shows” – but, he is “about” his practice. Dance is a nonverbal endeavor of the soul, spirit, intellect, and physical virtuosity—it is not a product, but a task.

The task is to keep dancing, as much as possible, and keep evolving.

The task is to dance—anyway or anyhow possible, by all means necessary.

Create a space and time to dance, performance, video, or just in a park or studio, and dance!