RE-POST: The Dancers' Plague

..It's not the same as it used to be. Individuals who started to take up this art in the mid to late nineties can vouch for this. It was all about the things we did together outside of rehearsals that mattered most. We didnt care about staying past midnight because it was worth it. We didnt care what we wore as long as we all represented the same effort. Music selection was a mere representation of the mood we would all be in and competitions were just an excuse for all of us to perform.

Today, dancing has taken a dramatic turn. All of a sudden, the love of dance slowly began to diminish and the driving force to perform revolved solely around being the best and most original. And within a blink of an eye, competitions served only that purpose...to WIN. The dance scene rapidly morphed into a cult-like phenomena similar to that of adolescent southern beauty pageants. Dancers have become like hungry mothers with their teams. Wear the perfect outfit...apply the right make- up...carry yourself on stage with pride and confidence...smile...wow the crowd...be better than the other contestants....sound familiar? Don’t get me wrong, to certain degrees competition is good. It's what motivates many of us to do better. It is a natural human condition that we utilize for self improvement. It is when we make competition the burning core to which our world of dance revolves around that it creates a shady and shallow surface.

Loyalties have been betrayed; friendships lost; identities tangled.This has become an all too familiar fate for the new generation breed of dancers. They have no idea what it means to devote themselves to the cause. They claim to love the art, but what they mean to say is that they love how the art makes them look. But the moment something better breaks its way through, they're out the door. If we were to give up on everything we were doing each time something better came along the way, we would never get ANYTHING done. That is the story of life. There is nothing wrong with moving onto newer things. Challenges should always be embraced no matter what. But there is no use in trying to reach for the stars if you're not willing to climb the mountains that bring you closer to it. And then when you've reached that top and you're sitting there bleeding and bruised, that is when you've EARNED the right to pursue a bigger mountain. Dancers today think they can just tie on their new dunks and hop their way up into the stars not knowing what it actually takes to really become one. And it's sad.
But not all dancers are at fault for this. This new breed came into the dance scene when the artform was in full throttle. So for some of them, this is all they know. It's like a rich child growing up sheltered, naïve and ignorant to the welfare of society. Is it really their fault for only knowing the glamour of life? I presume it isn't. But if they don’t educate themselves on what it means to work and earn that lifestyle then they will never be able to fully reap the fulfillment of who they are, what they do, and most importantly: what they HAVE.

Who would have ever thought that we would invest so much of our time and energy into something that doesn't pay our bills or rent?? I know why...because we LOVE it. Dance is our escape from the bitter realities of the world. It is our refuge from the personal tyranny that haunts us from the inside. We learn a lot about ourselves in this process and we become humanly stronger because of it. It is a God-given talent we were blessed with and subconsciously we apply it metaphorically throughout life.

So ask yourself this...why do you dance? Why do you do it? Why???