Why We Do What We Do, Part 1

For a couple of years now, I’ve been watching as many businesses and industries, including Ballet Memphis, have been required to rethink and reinvent themselves to stay relevant in our quickly changing world. This has made me wonder if traditional dance training will be required to undergo a similar evolution, and if so, what might a new ballet school paradigm look like? The ballet school model in America has not changed very much in the last 75 years, but if significant adaptation is required, I want Ballet Memphis School to be a part of the leading edge of growth and change, not struggling to keep up or catch up. In trying to imagine where dance training may be headed, I thought it appropriate to first examine why we do what we do.

I sat down last year with the students in the highest level of the school and asked them why they dance. Before I tell you what they said, take a moment to think about what you’re passionate about, how you choose to spend your limited time and energy. Chances are you choose activities that make you feel good, that challenge you in some way, or that allow you to express yourself.

The students’ answers all fell into one of those categories. Yes, dancing makes us feel beautiful, and we enjoy its physicality; we like the intellectual challenge of mastering difficult movements and learning choreography; and we love performing with focus and passion and receiving adulation from an appreciative audience. But the students all agreed that the most important and compelling reason that they dance is that dance allows us to express things that words alone cannot say. That idea has become the tag line for the Junior Company – (we dance) “because words are not enough.”

Artists of all kinds, both visual and performing, create works of art as a means of expression, and each utilizes a different kind of language. Writers and poets have words. Musicians have sound and rhythm. Painters have color and shape. And dancers have movement. Each artistic medium uses a different language, but the intent is the same – we tell our stories, express our thoughts, emotions, and beliefs, through our art.

Even the simplest gesture is a means of communication. I’m not speaking just of traditional pantomime like: “I see you,” or even a gesture that suggests “I have a headache.” Rather, gestures in dance are usually abstract, and open to interpretation.

Through gestures and the postures and movements of the entire body, we portray characters, tell stories, or emulate familiar beings like animals. At other times we simply create an atmosphere that is inspired by the music and the exact interpretation is left up to the audience. As one of the students wrote about the experience of dancing: “The world tells us what the norm is and gives us strict rules to conform to. When we dance, there is no wrong way to move. We are free to express things any way we want. There are no limits.”