It took me three days to write this post so it didn’t sound like a section of my thesis.
Posted by Candice on February 14, 2010 at 11:15 am
So my life has not been very blog-worthy lately.
Wake up, go to ballet, come home, work out, do school work, get frustrated with school work, sleep, repeat.
But, yesterday, something exciting happened! I got to meet my dance scholar idol. Okay, so it sounds kind of lame after all that build up; but it was really important to me. In fact, my major research project is based to a great degree on her work. When I read things that this woman has written I think to myself, “How is it that this person is able to read my mind and write exactly what I am thinking?” Unlike many others, we see ballet as potentially empowering.
Anyway, the point is, that yesterday the dance department hosted a lecture panel on masculinity and dance across cultures, which is why she was there to present. While I often feel a lot of pressure as a dance scholar to look at forms beyond ballet and even beyond western theatre dance, I was happy that Jennifer was there yesterday to validate ballet as worthy of attention. And to inspire me to keep doing the work I do.
These past few weeks I have been absolutely consumed with finishing my final research project. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I really want to say and feeling a little unsure about my argument that changing the way society thinks about transcending gender could begin in the dance studio. However, at the end of her presentation, Jennifer said exactly what I needed to hear to validate my life project! She asked, “What kind of world to you want to live in and how can dance contribute to making this?” I think I’m going to get it put on a bumper sticker!
There’s something very special about finding people who inspire you to do better in some aspect of your life, not by preaching, but just by modeling practices. I’m pretty lucky because it seems like I can learn something from everyone I know and it was certainly nice to be reminded of this yesterday.
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