Move TOWARD Something....
Some of us are dancing in the gap between good and special. We work diligently, train in ballet, stretch at home and maintain a consistent class schedule that feeds our soul and goals. We are good students, good people and good dancers. The space between good and special is real and wide. I don’t love the word SPECIAL, but I do love the flexibility of the word and I absolutely love that it doesn’t mean “perfect”! In this case, special means authentic and engaging.
I believe that one bridge between these two states is our approach to focused goals. Listen to what you say to yourself while dancing. Do you hear “Don’t mess up”, “why did you do that?”, “be better”, “that was awful, etc. Yep, me too. Let’s shift our focus toward moving boldly and honestly (or insert your movement values here). If the goal is honesty, big movement or connected storytelling, it will move us toward something. Moving toward a quality of movement is much more powerful than having an “away goal” or a negatively stated intention as in “I won’t make a mistake” or “stop forgetting the choreo”. This doesn’t mean that you don’t listen to your teacher, or that you ignore notes in class but it does mean that your bring your movement values into the choreography. You dance from your intention of bold, honest, connected, etc. This allows you to bring your special, authentic, engaged/engaging self to the work instead of internally measuring against perfection (which doesn’t exist) or fear (which is never helpful). This internal measuring keeps us GOOD but never moves us toward our next stage. There isn’t an on/off switch to perfectionism but small steps TOWARDS something meaningful will add up to a confident, special, authentic movement quality. What values will guide you this week?