Musings

There are probably many different forms this community dance can take. Lately Spencer and I have been considering whether it would be better to have a space and invite community members to come to that space or to be completely mobile and go to the communities themselves.

I've been feeling like the concept of "found space" in which you perform/create within the space as you find it should be explored more. I feel like using found space invites the environment into our circles of connection that we are creating with our performances. However, I realize that this might get complicated legally. Man, if I were in Buenos Aires, this would be no problem. It seems like there, everyone just does whatever they want where ever they want. Obviously I have no idea if that is true.

Anyway, I had an epiphany the other day about my project. It'll be called Holding Hands, Dancing Feet. It will be a joy movement for peace through communities. In Holding Hands, Dancing Feet (henceforth described at HHDF) me and my team of experts will go into communities and help them to become happily involved in creating a community performance in which everyone has a role. I will create a manual that the communities can use to continue the community performances after we've left. The communities can use these performances to raise money for community causes like building a community garden or improving a community center.

The confusing part is that, what defines the literal local community has become so blurred. Is it everyone on your block, on your street, in your neighborhood, in your city... and some neighborhoods are so large! Man... this small town girl is in over her head. There is no beginning nor end.

I just want to go back to ballet class...

To consume: devour, eat immoderately; serve oneself to, or consume regularly; spend extravagantly; destroy completely; use up (resources or materials}

To be a consumer: to be one who devours, eats immoderately, serves oneself, consumes regularly, spends extravagantly, destroys completely, and uses up (resources or materials); humans.

All for One and One for All

An excerpt from Lighting Their Fires by Rafe Esquith:

"In some classes, particularly those involved with an art-related project like a play or a concert, standard procedure is to split up the students according to the roles they will play in the production. Drama teachers often rehearse only with the students they will "need" that day to go through a certain set of scenes. This happens in the wolds of sports and music as well. Teachers understandably employ this strategy to give more individual attention to the kids with whom they are working. However, this is a missed opportunity to teach something far more important than the content of whatever show or concert is in rehearsal.

When our class spends a year producing a Shakespeare play, the entire cast comes to all rehearsals. It is true that there are times when certain kids sit around for more than an hour watching others rehearse. There may be a dance practice or the blocking of a scene that involves only ten to twelve students while forty others watch. But the reason that everyone attends is to help the kids overcome their selfish tendencies. The key is something we discussed earlier: focus. Those who aren't part of the scene at hand are not allowed to drift or goof around; they need to pay attention. It is imperative that the kids spend time watching others work and fail and sweat before reaching excellence. After a while something wonderful happens--students begin to smile and take great joy in the achievement of others. It may be more "effective" to work only with specific children, but that is based on the assumption that the show is the most important thing. It's not. The kids are. Teaching them to root for their peers and embrace the progress of others is a far more important goal than a standing ovation that lasts for a few minutes. Seeing beyond oneself can last a lifetime."

I love the arts, but as I'm sure you have witnessed, it is so easy to get caught up in our own success, our own accomplishments, our own greatness. We lose something when we only focus on our own artistic abilities. And what we lose is something that comes from the basis of what art is... we lose our community. Is art not primarily a method of communication either to ourselves or to others or both? And when we are not communicating with ourselves nor others, what are we doing? And at that point, who cares what we are doing? I can appreciate great talent and great art, but if I become aware that the artist is only in it for the applause, I lose respect for the artist and love for the art. I can still appreciate how good it is, but I don't care any more. Do you agree?

This is not to say that I think all rehearsals should be done as Rafe explains. There are certainly situations, with adults especially, when it is unpractical or unreasonable to take time that could be devoted to helping put food on the table to sit watching others rehearsals for hours. However, I can see how it could be beneficial, and I can see how it could be considered vital for young children to learn this particular lesson. If everyone learned this lesson young, I wouldn't have to deal with disrespectful dancers at auditions.

Musings

Isn't art vital to human development? When I say development I do not mean the physical development that we all go through prior to adulthood. Rather I am speaking of our intellectual and emotional development, of our molding and exploration of that with distinguishes human beings from other animals. From what I've seen and read, every art form develops different aspects of our existence. Visual art develops focus and attention to detail. It inspires the mind with color and perception. Music is like learning a new language. It develops our sense of timing and devotion to time management. Theater develops an appreciation of vocabulary, rhythm, and the journey that gets us to our goals. It also increases an understanding and appreciation of history. Dance connects us to our bodies, fires up our kinesthetic awareness, improves our sense of time and space, increases memory for patterns and series, improves our awareness of our environment and those around us, not to mention the countless physical benefits. Don't we need to experience and develop all these things. These benefits have been shown to cross over into other areas of life: math, science, reading,history. Life skills!

I'm reading a book called: Lighting Their Fires by Rafe Esquith. It's about teaching/raising children. He quoted Mark Twain saying "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." It seems to me this can be applied to the arts as well. The benefits are there for the taking. If we were to allow ourselves an hour a week for each of these activities what possibilities could we open up for ourselves. Instead of checking out in front of the TV, we could invigorate those previously dormant areas of our brains and our potentials.

Please feel free to add benefits I've left out.

Holiday Choir

How would it be if, within my dancing community center, we created a holiday choir for those of us who like to sing holiday songs... especially for those of us who don't go to church and have no other opportunities to sing these joyful tunes?

Others who have the right idea!

This is a response to a blog about what community means:

Re: What's Your Definition of Community?

Community is:
A call from a neighbor when you haven't said hello lately
A business where the owner knows your name
A place where you can sing and dance and laugh
A place to find help
A place to share your gifts

At the Mid Maine TimeBank we value all these things, so much so that we pay for community building with local "Time Dollars." For every hour that our members help build community, sharing gifts, space, time and caring, they earn one Time Dollar. They can use this local currency to purchase what they need or want. By embracing technology and the Internet, we can become closer, not isolated in our homes. We can find a friend who is willing; we can gather together.
For those interested, TimeBanks are springing up all over the country. Check it out at www.timebanks.org, or www.midmetimebank.com here in Maine.

By Stacey Jacobsohn on 7/28/2009 8:56 AM

And the response by the blogger:

Re: What's Your Definition of Community?

Thx for the response, Stacey. Your definition seems to suggest that communities are not bound by geography or place. Rather, it is we -- members of a community -- who give meaning to the term through our actions. Hmmmm.

By Meredith Jones on 7/31/2009 7:49 AM

And a further response:

Re: What's Your Definition of Community?

Community is a way of thinking, thus "what effects me effects you"---good or bad. My work (serving those around me), My education, My health, etc., all has an effect on those who share in the environment in which live. So...Let's all make way to serve at our own business or at that of another, to be open-minded and knowledgeable, and to be healthy for the vibrance of our respective communities.

By Yolanda Taylor on 8/5/2009 7:36 AM

Another Blog: Madcap Logic, about arts in children and such.

How Arts Training Improves Attention and Cognition
September 18th, 2009

Does education in the arts transfer to seemingly unrelated cognitive abilities? Researchers are finding evidence that it does. Michael Posner argues that when children find an art form that sustains their interest, the subsequent strengthening of their brains’ attention networks can improve cognition more broadly.

Check out this fascinating article at The Dana Foundation’s website - http://www.dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=23206

Also, someone special forwarded this email to me a couple days ago and I find it poignant.
Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain.' And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together..

Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet... We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Roller blades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord..

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-Decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy..

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to........not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask 'How are you?' Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.' And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say 'Hi?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away...... Life is not a race Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.


That's what I've found so far. I'll keep you updated as I find more.

Why don't Americans have a dance that defines part or our culture?

This is an excerpt from my thesis on why Americans don't dance anymore.

"In today’s world, other people are a threat and an obstacle to our personal ambitions (Ehrenreich, 2006). Although humans have evolved to be more highly social than any other primate species, capable of developing strong bonds to unrelated people, and enjoying pleasurable activities with large numbers of individuals, we now share our planet with over six billion other humans who are all competing for land, water, and oil. To be a socially focused individual these days seems naïve and careless, and it certainly doesn’t put a person on the fast track to success. Success in this sense is the achievement of financial security. Ehrenreich questions whether this problem with modern civilization is just a matter of scale. She notes that the rituals and festivities of indigenous people evolved to encourage living in larger groups, usually about a few hundred people at a time. With a group this size, everyone can hear the un-amplified music and interact with each other. Civilizations today, however, include hundred millions of individuals who are bound not by community or safety, but by economic, military, and legal dependency. French theorist Debord described ours as the “society of spectacle” which exists during “an epoch without festivals” (in Ehrenreich, 2006). Today, people don’t generate collective pleasures; rather they absorb, or consume, the spectacles provided them. Commercial entertainment, consumer culture, nationalist ritual, and advertisement after advertisement oozing the satisfaction of personal ownership, have replaced dance as a daily ritual. However, as Ehrenreich (2006) concludes, although these things may be true, they do not defeat the possibility of festivities surviving within large-scale societies. In 1790 Paris, entire cities were caught up in the Festival of Federation, and dancers lined up in the streets and into the countryside. Rock concerts sometimes last for days, with tens of thousands of people peacefully socializing and dancing. Carnival remains the largest event in Brazil. Based on these occurrences, it is therefore not impossible for dance and celebration to exist within Western Culture.
The daily price we pay for the emotional emptiness that exists within many of us throughout the majority of our lives, when there is no Woodstock nearby, is evident in the high rates of social isolation and depression (Ehrenreich, 2006). While not fatal on their own, those who have suffered from these conditions know it is no way to live. These conditions also increase the risk of suicide and many other debilitating and deadly diseases, including cardiovascular disease. The current state of the world is increasingly ominous, and not just because of depression. Of the almost seven billion people on the planet, half live in debilitating poverty. Epidemics spread faster than the plague. Global climate change and natural disasters devastate millions. However, we seem mostly paralyzed against action. We seem to lack the means or willingness to collectively organize for survival. Our self-serving agendas and drive for power have eroded the notion of the common good.
Insofar as we compress our sociality into the limits of the family, we do not so much resemble our Paleolithic human ancestors as we do those far earlier prehuman primates who had not yet discovered the dance ritual as a “biotechnology” for the formation of larger groups. Humans had the wit and generosity to reach out to unrelated others; hominids huddled with their kin (Ehrenreich, 2006, p. 254).
Our consumer culture encourages us to distract ourselves and deflect our desires into obtaining and displaying our stuff: cars, shoes, plastic surgery, all of which promise to make us more popular, less lonely, and perhaps invincible to what is happening to those in less fortunate situations. However, despite all of our ‘things,’ most people who can avoid addiction to entertainment, consumerism, and drugs ultimately arrive at the conclusion that something is missing from life. You can feel that hollow in your chest, though what is lacking is difficult to pin down. Spirituality and community are vague ideas attached to this space. Intellectuals cite the absence of strong connections with people outside our immediate families as the missing link in society. Regardless of what it definitely is, we occasionally get glimpses of its eagerness to return. We see carnivalized sports events, dancing religious pilgrimages, and music festivals pop up in unlikely places. It exists in situations where there is no point to it. It is the chance to acknowledge and celebrate the miracle of our shared existence.
The real benefits of dance lie not in the dance itself, but in what the act of dance creates. Through my research, I believe I can boil down the benefits of uninhibited dance to three words: communication, connection, and celebration. Dance communicates concepts and feelings to oneself and to others on a level that no other form of communication can. Dance allows one to connect all parts of themselves, all parts of their community, and all parts of their environment. Through dance, one can feel truly whole. Celebration is the openness to feeling joy and peace in any situation. Dance is the natural way to celebrate. Communication, connection, and celebration are three elements of life that seem to me to be severely lacking in American society.
I am not suggesting, as Ehrenreich (2006) might be, that dance is the solution to the personal quest for fulfillment or the solution to all the worlds modern problems. However, I do believe that Americans are united not by common culture, but by geography, and that being united in this way lacks commitment to the community. I believe that most American believe in the American government and society because it perpetuates the ideal of doing what is best for the individual rather than the community and provides the best way for an individual to achieve personal success. I love my country and I love the people in it. I believe we can all be better if we find a way to unite in a commitment to the union. America is defined by being the “melting pot” in which cultures mix and blend together. Being culturally diverse doesn’t mean that we can’t unite under something supra-cultural or that in uniting we would lose our cultural or personal uniqueness or values."

Works Cited
Ehrenreich, B. (2006). Dancing in the streets: A collective history of joy. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.