Keep on dancing, on silence

Keep on dancing! Keep moving! Show how important culture, art and dance is.

No doubt about this last statement. But somehow, that is a lot of expectations on a discipline that constantly plays with them. If you give that importance, it is because it has that power, so I would focus on empowering, or embodying, dance rather than claiming it.

If we believe in its importance, no fear, it will find its place and it will adapt to the context as movement always does (that is what movement means, change). But there is no point on trying to make it fit in a certain mould, never better said, trying to fit big range movements in small rooms, sweat and effort in rested bodies, performances without audience. How do you connect to your body? To others even through distance, or through a screen? How do you connect to your dance? And how do you express it?

We should do what we need and want to do, of course, we should do as many online dance classes as we want. Although, we shouldn’t forget that dance is far more than staying fit, those are two different things even if one supports the other; we have to be aware as well, and acknowledge, that online is another medium of sharing dance, so we should look at it differently, it establishes a different connection between bodies and even to your own body than what we do in a studio, dance videos are a different kind of choreographic work than life performance and it has to be treated as such.

And small range movements can be very big dances; lie down on the floor, release your body, and you will notice a huge movement wave happening within you.

Stillness is a very strong element, the absence of movement in the body says a lot, and even then, there are lots of movement happening. Just like silence. Dance is usually linked to any sort of music and it is not because it is less important or autonomous form of art, but because dance is about listening and most important, listening with the body. When there is a lot of noise, what are we listening to? How do you listen to silence? How do you listen to stillness?

I like to think of our bodies as a water spring, when there is nothing covering it or blocking from the outside (sometimes inside as well), the water just flows continuously without judging the surroundings, but just finding or making the path.

Let’s listen to our silent dances (invisible dances). To let the body be still for a while doesn’t mean being lazy or passive, it doesn’t make you a worse dancer or to be detached from your work or form yourself. When there is the chance to be heard among so much noise, you will hear it louder and clear, what kind of dance is happening within yourself? How do you express yourself through dance, even on silence?