More Than a Thousand Words

It has been said that a "picture is worth a thousand words" - how much more, then, is a moving picture worth? Dance is a constantly evolving series of moving picture moments and, if you listen carefully, there will be words spoken you that you (and perhaps, even the choreographer), never realized were there. In a day when words are cheap and information is overloading our senses, dance has the ability to speak beyond words and communicate a message that goes directly the heart and spirit of a person. I have watched joy released by the unihibited twirling of a 3 year old; I have seen grief uncorked by the lamenting gestures of a contemporary dancer; I have witnessed beauty of all sorts washing over an audience, mesmerized by the simplicity of the unison movements of a corps of ballerinas; I have seen a crowd ignited by the powerful clacking rhythms of a mob of tap dancers. This is why we dance...not only is this a lovely way to express our humanity, it is essential to our being. 

It is why I often encourage choreographers not to be too "literal" in what they create. By keeping dance a little more "poetic" the meaning can often go deeper and can often speak beyond what even the choreographer intended. Let's be honest, there are many life experiences that don't even have words that adequately express the scope of their impact on a person (eg. grief, ecstacy, depression, fear, love...). As famed dancer/choreographer, Isadora Duncan once said, "If I could tell you what it meant, there would be no point in dancing it..." And so we dance...if I could've, I would've even danced this message for you...