Just Shut Up And Dance

Noel noticed that World Dance Day (April 29th) is almost here. In 2002, Professor Alkis Raftis (President of the International Dance Council, or CID) elaborated his philosophy of dance in his World Dance Day message. I don't know if something was lost in translation, but it makes me a bit nervous. Prof. Raftis starts with a quote:

Yo puedo bailar en un templo sin profanarlo (I can dance in a temple without profaning it). Vicente Escudero (1892-1980), Spanish flamenco dancer

OK, good start. I don't quite get it, but OK:

These eight words give the essence of good dance. They should be our compass in cases when commercialized dance in the rich countries deviates towards a meaningless sequence of movements.

Meaningless sequence of movements? What is he talking about? Rock and roll? Discotheques? Raves? Teletubbies? No sequence of movements is ever meaningless: badly done, sometimes, of course, but never entirely meaningless:

Choreography is corrupted by the frantic quest for innovation.

Well, lack of innovation is a sure-fire way to corrupt choreography: better to err on the side of frantic innovation:

Dance teaching is degraded by the blind concentration on steps.

More dance teaching is ruined by not focusing on the steps. Don't look at your feet, but by all means, drill those steps!:

Dance research is impoverished by the idealization of structure analysis.

This one makes my head hurt - what is he talking about? College-level mechanical engineering statics, applied to the physics of dance? College-level mechanical engineering dynamics, applied to the physics of dance? Dance as a branch of sculpture? Academicization? Watching too many videos?:

Too often we forget to ask ourselves if this or that dance is really beautiful, if it carries values, if it will resist the ultimate test of time.

Yup. I forget all the time. Mostly because the answer is self-evident - "The world will little note nor long remember....." We should be alert, of course, to really excellent dancing!:

Dance in itself is not sacred, but it can stand beside the sacred, as a means to transcend reality, a tool for liberation, a way of acquiring another self.

Good point! Like a fresh coat of paint! Well, maybe not paint, exactly, but maybe like a chameleon's skin. Well maybe not a chameleon exactly, but maybe like a peacock, or a duck, or an iridiscent fish, or a giant bumblebee!:

Not all creations can be fit to dance in a temple - just as we cannot always wear Sunday clothes.

That's right: when Pam hosts Sunday morning ballet class over at Cisneros' Temple of Dance, we don't do folk dancing. Well, not much folk dancing, unless Pam starts riffing on some Balkan or Greek melody, then, hey! Bring out the handkerchief, form a line, and challenge those weird rhythms!:

We therefore need to educate the public in developing qualitative criteria: how to tell "Sunday dances" from "everyday dances".

Pam tells me what that distinction is - I get them all mixed up!:

Our dances should at least be good enough to dance outside a temple.

At every opportunity, especially since I don't go to Cisneros' Temple of Dance five days out of seven!:

Happy World Dance Day!