As a choreographer Twyla Tharp provides some exceptional insight into the methodology of creativity and how we approach success vs. failure. I came upon this video over on 43Folders and it has some great advice for dancers who are in the middle of creative ventures.
Perhaps the most significant note in the video: wanting to be liked and admired can be an impediment to our creativity as dancers. We often choose to replicate what works and what is showcased as successful in competitions by top dancers rather than pursuing our own creative impulses.
We have to be aware of our crowd and audience but at the same time have the confidence to forge our own dance since being admired and liked have little to do with dancing. Something I think all aspiring dancers have to work on balancing.
What about dancing on our own, in private, without an audience or even with a particular goal is so refreshing? So invigorating? When we’re not practicing and just letting it go.
Terrence featured an interesting thought about this and I’ll see if I can keep the discussion going (perhaps tangentially).
When we are practicing, training, performing or even just dancing with or in front of our peers we are less likely to envision our space – our art – as sacred. When we dance on our own after our classes are finished, our training over, our performances finished and our peers retired from judging, what do we evoke? (more…)
There really are many reasons that people compete and I certainly won’t be able to explain them all but here are a few common ones.
Recognition
Expectation
Personal Challenge
Fun
Recognition: This is a very common reason within the dance community to compete. With competition performance and success you are more visible than your peers that do not compete. The assignment of status to competitive level dancers pushes many people to compete. However, recognition in competition is not always positive and can bring mixed reactions from others whether due to unsporting behavior or personal opinion.
Expectation: Expectation can take the form of the expectations of peers or yourself that at a certain point you should compete. It can be the obligation you feel if a dance partner wants to compete or of a scene pressing you forward. Expectations can help push you higher than you expected or drag you into a situation you weren’t interested in or ready for.
Personal Challenge: With goals and determination come improvement. Taking on a competition as a means to push your own dancing to another level can be quite empowering. With an attitude of this sort it is more about surpassing your own limits than placing or recognition.
Fun: Getting out there in front of a crowd with your peers can be a great way to let loose and have fun. Whether you chose to do it on a whim or because you enjoy competing; going out and having fun in a competition is probably one of the best mind frames you can have. Just don’t get too crazy and lose sight of your partner.
Usually we end up competing for some, if not all, of these reasons.
As a competitive dancer, I have competed with each one of these in mind at some point. These days the most important to me are the personal challenge and fun. It is exhilarating to get on the floor with your friends and peers and bring the best you have. With the energy of a great crowd and a good jam its hard not to feel vibrant and alive.
Watch the energy in this clip from Boston Tea Party last year.
This weekend I attended a yearly event called Swing Into Spring hosted by the Connecticut Swing Dance Society. Unlike most workshop weekends that feature an individual teacher or teaching couple Swing Into Spring features a different teacher for each class.
This year the teachers were Noelle Gray, Jerone Gagliano, Shawn Hershey, Amanda Gruhl, Marc-Andre Vachon, Ben Oaks-Lee, Dianne Eramo, Nicole Zuckerman, and myself. The goal (other than to teach) is to provide the teachers with a group format to work on and present material to a class and receive feedback from their peers on their teaching method, class layout and material. It was also the custom for teachers to participate in the classes enabling them to evaluate the material, but more importantly to provide individual instruction to those in rotation thus creating a stronger learning environment.
Very few events offer opportunities like this to regional teachers who want to improve their teaching skills without being thrust into a trial-by-fire weekend workshop. The format provided time to come back after each day of classes and have a discussion on what worked and what could use improvement for each class; sunday also included commentary on what could be done to improve the event itself for the following year.
For my experience, I had the pleasure of teaching a showmanship class with Dianne. It went better than either of us anticipated, having never taught together or taught a class like it we had decidedly prepared more than we needed.
The class focused on the essentials of showmanship that need to be present whether you are dancing solo or with a partner. We began with the statement (approximately): “the best dancers only have to walk”; and then proceeded to walk our class up and down the floor with different comments in mind for a good 45 minutes. We included some basic jazz steps in our walks and finished off the class with a partnered step to showcase both walking with a partner and a shoe-shine. All in all we received very positive feedback from our peers and will hopefully get to teach it somewhere else.
It felt good to teach again, especially such a conceptually oriented class. I had forgotten the joys of seeing peoples’ dancing and movement change in the course of a single class. I look forward to my next opportunity to teach.
The movie Be Kind, Rewind got me thinking about Fats Waller and the importance he played in jazz piano in such a short yet productive life. He was a vastly productive composer, including lesser known tunes like Minor Drag, Fractious Fingering, and Yacht Club Swing, alongside more popular tunes like Honeysuckle Rose and Ain’t Misbehavin’ which have been performed by Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Duke Ellington, and many more.
Classically trained and rent party experienced, his music is often characterized by its playful manner and lyrics. A prime example of the stride tradition, Fats studied with James P. Johnson and Willie “the Lion” Smith; his songs reflect the brightness of strides’ ragtime roots with the complexity of jazz improvisation and swing rhythms. He influenced a great number of jazz pianists, including Count Basie and Errol Gardner, and still influences pianists like Gordon Webster who regularly plays for dancers.
Most recently in the lindy hop community one of Fats Waller’s lesser known songs, Twenty-Four Robbers, was used for a choreography by Skye Humphries and Frida Segerdahl. It was performed at ULHS (article here) and at ALHC. The routine emphasizes the clarity of Fats’ piano, and an ease and happiness that is just as characteristic of their personalities as it is of Fats’. They evoke the spirit of the song, dancing within the space created by Fats Waller’s piano and voice.
All too often as dancers we can forget the joy of dancing or as musicians that joy of playing, we get caught up in a technical perfectionism and bind ourselves with arbitrary rules which supposedly define our arts. Fats Waller as an icon of playfulness and joy should not be forgotten and we should embrace that when we are on the floor or the bandstand.
The movie 
