Today, I would like to write about something that I experienced recently. It was bizarre because I hadn't noticed it for a while and had forgotten about it, but whilst taking a Cunningham class, I experienced some sort of territorial dance thing.
Ok, so that makes no sense at all, "territorial dance thing" but i can't think of a label for it. It was that thing when you're in class and there are some people who seem to have such an overwhelming eagerness to claim their space and mark it, like some sort of animal, and they seem to have a really overwhelming desire to impress and be the teacher's pet.
Like I said, I haven't experienced it for a while but I noticed it the other day and it made me feel a bit grumpy during the class and played on my mind a bit throughout.
In some ways I can understand why people have a tendency to do this because afterall, we are animals when it comes down to it, but I suppose it sometimes bothers me because naturally, I don't have this competitive and kill or be killed attitude.
In reflection, I'm still not sure what I think about this kind of attitude because perhaps it has a purpose? But for now, I think I will not respond to it because I fear it can cause more damage than we realise.
Thinking of class, for me, it is a way in which I can work on my technique, my physique and my overall control and craft as a Dancer, and of course, as a form of exercise and warming up, and so nowadays I tend not to use it as a superficial thing or a way of showing off becuse it can be such a waste of energy and becomes disappointing when you realise that no one really cares so much about how high your leg is going or what tricks you can do.
Thinking back on a recent blog by Alice, she talked about how a Dancer from Scottish Dance Theatre talked about performing exercises superficially, making them look good instead of using the exercise for its physcial benefits and sensation and it made me think alot and question how I am doing things. It was a very useful thing to talk about because we can get lost in the superficial areas in dance and forget about what we're actually learning or should be learning.
More frequently, I am having these moments of relfection when I remember and reflect on dance, and I'm glad of them because personal questioning and challenging yourself can prove to be a valuable tool in the end.
Moving away from all of that, rehearsals for myself and Svenja's Resolution piece are going well. The other day my lower calf was really painful because of the running so at the moment I'm not running. It is still a little sore but when I dance it is ok, so it is clear that it is a result of the running.
I would like to run more for exercise when I'm not dancing but i am quite afraid of it actually because I'm not sure about its impact on the joints and so on, I need to check it out.
I have some exciting dates to announce very soon regarding performances. Watch this space.
And to finish, my computer deided to commit suicide the other day, so now I am waiting for the computer people to send me the installation disk so I can fix the poor thing, but i will loose everything that I had on the computer :(
Shame on me for not backing everything up. I've definately learned a lesson there.
:)
