“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Anne Frank
We are entering the second half of our first full season. As I reflect on the journey we have taken, I am appreciating my core dancers and understanding the depths of how commitment allows for both transformation of work and self. When a single discovery such as this has boundless depth that echoes in its own reflections throughout the micro and macro aspects of life, a stronger foundation appears.
The arts have an incredible potential to empower us to become agents ourselves towards the healing and empowerment of others. Taking time to continually establish a foundation in favor of a platform that is dedicated to commitment, caring and collaboration has become an essential and ever-shifting learning process. As a culture, the human experience of emotion is marginalized and because of this, we are often unprepared for the emotions that arise in ourselves and others. However through movement, when we learn to welcome, allow, and give ourselves permission as a physical practice, we have an opportunity to re-establish this connection consciously. And through mentorship as a form of foundation building, we have the opportunity to ask questions that reveal the physicality of our hidden suffering and the complexities of our differences. This new foundation requires the unseen to become visible on both the individual and social levels.
I have often shared my belief that what we do in the studio affects our lives outside of it. This sentiment is expanding to a deeper understanding of the transformative power of giving a voice to the silent spaces within each of us. Something that stirred a great power site of transformation in the individuals I have worked with this past week was simply sitting in circles and asking questions after moving. The movement we shared then became a ritualistic way to reconnect with our emotions and personal mythologies while landing in our own bodies. It was the act of listening to others as well as expressing ourselves that created the relational experience. The interconnectedness seemed to redeem a sense of our body as a source of personal truth and then once shared through words, a source of cultural truth.
There is something to be said for building a tolerance to the truths that arise within ourselves, our relationships and our communities rather than changing them. The tolerance allows for the discovery of its alchemical potential. Nothing teaches this more than leadership. And I could not be more thrilled by the upcoming community projects that have arisen from this very discovery.