Tuesday, March 16, 2010

A Point of View

As a Professional it is always interesting and a learning experience to hear a student's point of view. I have said many times that my best teachers were my students! Here is an interesting article I received from student David Easa. Enjoy
Geoffrey Fells.

So the Question is: Insight? Dance?
By David Easa

Are people driven to gain insight into their lives or are they just happy with the status quo? The risk of course is obvious….no one wants to be wrong and in the final analysis, gaining insight into one’s dysfunctional and sometimes destructive behavior practices may expose one to painful self realization without a realistic resolution of the problem. Take smoking for example: we know it’s deadly, but many of us smoke. But the list of common everyday vices increases in size every day. As Americans, we eat too much, drink too much, lie to much, sit too much, watch to much (TV, computer screen), and live in an increasingly virtual world where the mind and body are separated…i.e. your consciousness is sent to far off places through your hand held device. How many people do you see in public, whether alone or in the company of others that are transfixed by the tiny screen held in one hand with the other hand dancing words on a tinier or even virtual keyboard…….with endless messages to someone or something who/that is not there - and may not be in the same city or state or country (takes one to know one!). Have I made my point?

And yet, for those of us who have sought and found dance in our lives, it seems that we haven fallen victim to the same shortfalls in behavior that we have found so irresistible in our general lives. How else can we explain this apparent paradox? In dance we have found an activity that brings joy, combines the beauty and expressions of music with movement in ways that are uniquely rewarding and pleasurable (does your body dance even when you are just sitting listening to music?), and through the joyful interaction with others and partnering in dance - all facilitated by the community of dance events offered for us to enjoy and participate in. Dancing requires a strong body and an able mind, musicality and a desire to gain skills and advance one’s dance level. It promotes physical and mental health, and the realistic promise to continue dancing at some meaningful level (to oneself) until one’s final days.

Our community of dance is small. Modest numbers congregate at the Palladium on weekends; outside of this venue, showcases are planned carefully and thoughtfully throughout the year providing a beautiful decorated ballroom, a decent selection of food (and many desserts), a place to dance and a showcase of local talents to enjoy or critique or envy. And of course, there is the Hawaii Star Ball. The venues of the Showcases are frequently held at the Pacific Beach Hotel perhaps out of habit, perhaps because of cost, and perhaps out of preference. Other venues cost more (circa ≥ $25), which stimulates controversy and complaints. Is the cost truly prohibitive or do people take this opportunity of the higher cost to complain? Indeed, these events cannot survive without your participation. It’s not like there are many choices out there; by not supporting as many events as possible, it limits our future offerings. This sentiment also applies to our only nationally recognized dance competition in the state, the Hawaii Star Ball. In this respect, we are truly responsible for our social dance heritage and destiny.

Competent dance instructors in Honolulu are NOT plentiful. You can either appreciate their capabilities through the hype of their words, or by the acquired skills of their students. This is visible for everyone to see! But our dance instructors cannot survive unless they are supported, and we need to increasingly appreciate them. We must support them by continuing to admit that we are all students forever and that we need to continue to improve our technique and increase our portfolio of dance skills and dances. We need them but they need us as well! They cannot survive without our support. Is it really too expensive to take a lesson…once a week, or even once every two weeks? Do you really believe that you are good enough of a dancer to not need lessons? Funny, even dance instructors take lessons when they can. In my view, dancing is like Medicine, you can never learn everything, and you will forever need to strive toward improvement. Indeed, this essence is what makes dancing so wonderful, that you can NEVER reach the end and say I know everything, I can’t learn anymore, I’m the best, I am the greatest (unless your last name is Ali)!!!

Then there are our dance friends. Do we really want them to excel or are we content to see them falter and provide more food for gossip? Or is it just plain fun to say demeaning things about our fellow dancers? Does this elevate one’s own self esteem by finding fault in others? I apologize if you don’t recognize this behavior in your daily dance lives. This is not a cryptic message to anyone but just a general statement recognizing both our imperfect human nature and all too frequent lack of humility and brazen arrogance. It applies to all or none; look yourself in the mirror and you will recognize whether anything said here applies to you (thankfully my mirrors are all cracked). That is if you are brave enough to do so, if you are strong enough to gain insight into your behavior with some meaningful purpose in mind for change and reconciliation.

I hope this writing will make you think and appreciate yourselves as fortunate humans, as gifted ballroom dancers, as I have enjoyed thinking and writing this blog. Leave the politics for the politicians; Hannemann, Aiona, and Obama. Preserve the community of dance by understanding its realities, its finances, the needs of our instructors and the ephemeral nature of our dance events. Appreciate your fellow dancers and support them. Enjoy every moment and experience every possible challenge. Find some unlucky non dancer and aspirate them into your world, inject them with a small dose at first, and over time, they will thank you for a new avocation that they will enjoy for decades. As a doctor, I can tell you that no one has two left feet! Everyone can dance! And fellow community dancers, if we all did this, our dance community would double, our venues for dancing would increase and we would all enjoy the results and benefits.

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