one step forward
Dance is discovery, discovery, discovery. -Martha Graham
A guest post by Reed Colver
Six months ago, I discovered that I was stepping backward in my basic walk at a time when I should have been stepping forward.
Apparently, I had been for quite some time. Lots of work subsequently followed to fix that particular issue.
Then, a few days ago during class a glance at my feet yielded a new discovery: my second step wasn’t going anywhere at all.
I was staying in place.
It seems I had now progressed from stepping backwards, to going nowhere.
So, we worked on stepping forward. On actually moving somewhere.
Brilliant.
It’s as if….
Each level I move up, each new series of concepts or move introduced to me is like starting over again in so many ways. Eventually I realized it’s because that’s exactly what is happening.
I am constantly being challenged. Each time I rise and meet that challenge - another one follows.
Whether a dancer is in Essentials, Fundamentals, or Intermediate, our experiences are similar. Regardless of the level/experience/’ability’ it’s the same process. It is a constant cycle of learning. Part of that learning is frustration, awkwardness, and uncertainty.
It is the discovery that while I am no longer stepping backwards, I am now going nowhere.
It is the realization that in reality, that’s actually an improvement.
The other night I was talking to a relatively new student when he asked me about stepping on the clave which he was having trouble with. He paused, listened to the music, and immediately started clapping out the clave.
“When do I step?”
I stood there staring at him. “You know, it took me 18 months to be able to hear the clave and clap it out like that? February. I finally figured it out this last February.”
He just smiled and said, ‘But I don’t know when to step.’
Our specific challenges aren’t always the same from one person to another, but regardless we are all dancing in the same boat.
And we are all trying to move forward.
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Reed said it best, “Our specific challenges aren’t always the same from one person to another, but regardless we are all dancing in the same boat.”
That’s so true of dance…and of life.