There’s a lot of them around, people who have been dancing for more than half their lives, probably been dancing for more than 80% of their lives. They started dancing around 10 or so and they are around 50 now. These are people who have danced many dances, seen different scenes and fashions in dance come and go, and now have picked up on the essence of it.
I don’t just mean people who have danced for a long time and done basically the same thing.
I mean people who have been in the thick of it; they have been teachers, judges, studio owners, competitors. And they have probably done it in a number of styles and been so captivated by dance that they read up on it too.
If you ever get a chance to talk to one of these people, then ask them some questions like these (along with ‘and why?’) and then just sit back and listen:
- Which dance do you think is the hardest?
- Do you think all judges dance the same?
- Do you think dance sport is the best type of dance?
- Do you think people dance better now than in the past?
- Where do you think the best dancers come from?
If you can do this as part of a normal conversation then this dancer will simply let their ideas flow. They will start telling you things that they would not think to tell you if they really had to stop think about it. They will probably get animated too and start demonstrating things – most dancers (especially experienced ones) can’t help but move when thinking about dance.
As long as you’re relaxed and just going with the flow and you are engaged, then you will automatically pick up the important points. They will say something like the ‘The hardest thing about dance X is that you need to…’, and you will then have the insight that you needed. There would have been something abnout a certain dance going on in the back of your mind. And once it hears talking about that dance, that part of your mind will pull that piece of information in. All of a sudden you will understand something that has untill now been troubling you, and that part of your dance will then make sense. You will see it everywhere and you will understand dance at new and deeper level.
I can’t say it will be the aspect of dance that is troubling you the most or the one that you are thinking about. I can say, based on experience, that as long as the conversation is simply flowing, then you will get something that you need – whether you knew you needed it or not.
