hey dancers: lets break some rules

Let’s start by simply standing up and sitting back down 3 times.  

Excellent.

Do it again, but this time when you stand up, let your head lead your movement.

When you sit back down, let your tail lead your movement.

Try this a few times.

Excellent work!

Now this time, stand up leading with your tail.

Kinda strange, huh?

Well…..

Are you doing it right?

Are you doing it the way I asked you to do it?

Are you doing it in a way that looks good?

Is that what everyone else is doing?

And will I approve?

STOP THE PRESSES STOP THE PRESSES STOP THE PRESSES STOP THE PRESSES STOP THE PRESSES.

Let’s have that conversation again:

Now this time, stand up leading with your tail.

Kinda strange, huh?

Yeah, it’s a little bit strange:

“And I think I am doing it differently then you, and I don’t actually think I am leading with my tail, and I am a bit bent over backward, which is cool, because I have never been bent over backward like this before, and it just feels so weird to lead UP with my tail, but oh well, that’s how my body interprets that instruction…so wild and free and awesome that I am doing it differently then the person next to me and actually (giggle giggle), don’t even know if I am doing it at all like you said to do it, but something is emerging as I am trusting my own pathway within the rule I was just given about my tail leading me up.”

Excellent!!!!!!!

That is what is beautiful about improvisation.

THAT MOMENT when you don’t quite know what is going on,

and at the same time you know EXACTLY what is going on.

It won't be perfect because improvisation is not perfect.

That is the joy and the surprise and the rapture of it.

That radiant struggle of finding your way within the rules that have been laid out.

That is where the beauty is.

No, it isn’t necessarily pretty.

I don’t care about pretty.

I care about you becoming the animal making her way to higher ground.

I care about you becoming the animal that feels her hooves against the wet earth as she runs up the mountain next to all of the other animals running up the mountain -

trusting that prehistoric instinct to get to higher ground before the floods come.

Will you trip and fall and flounder sometimes?

Yes.

Will you turn right when you were instructed to turn left?

Yes. Will you lope instead of leap? Skitter instead of skip? Run instead of walk?

Yes and Yes and Yes.

This is just you finding your way within the rules laid out for you.

You will do it differently than the person next to you.

You will do it differently than how I am doing it. You will do it in a way that is not scientifically plausible or historically accurate.

Because you are an animal, a wild beast, a monster, and a snake.

You are the one underneath the carpet of earth, shaping the mountains and the valleys and the waterways.

Let's try standing up and sitting down three times.

Now try leading with your head as you stand up, and leading with your tail as you sit down.

Now try it leading with your tail as you stand up.

Notice how that feels.

Let your instinct lead you more than my instruction.

Let me repeat that:

Let your instinct lead you more than my instruction.

Your dance mission for the week is to:

1. Follow a rule to the tea. 2. Modify or change a rule. 3. Break a rule.

Then I want you to send this email along to two people.

Send it to someone who tends to follow the rules

and send it to someone who tends to break the rules.

See what they have to say.

By the way, if you like what you just read and are interested in reading more, you can sign-up for my newsletter below.

Whether you are brand new to dancing or started your dance career in the womb, I would love to hear your thoughts about dancing and the creative process.

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With Warmth,

Joanna

of

Joanna and The Agitators sweetly agitating/persistently upending