Dance returns to nature

   We thought the global crisis would last a few months, now it looks like it will last a year or more. After the pandemic subsides, the economy will take long to recover. People might never return to old ways of living.

   Dance has suffered heavy damages, schools emptied or closed. Tango and ballroom dances have been the worst hit. Festivals and competitions practically disappeared. One cannot dance under fear.

   My proposal: Return to proven, time-honored, basic values. One of them is Mother Nature. Get out of the studio – teach in parks, yards, lawns, sports venues, open spaces.

   After all, dance was born under the sky and continued so for centuries. Villagers danced every Sunday afternoon in the village square. Ballet and Indian classical forms evolved from performances by itinerant artists who set up stages in vacant lots.

   It will take some adaptations: providing music, laying a floor, changing clothes – but these are practical details. The main issue is changing the attitude of people – the teacher’s role is to guide them towards a natural activity, free from worries, free from boundaries.

     Dance was not meant to take place within four walls, it gradually turned into classes within four walls and spectacles in closed theaters.

     Try dancing in the sunshine or in the moonlight, breathing fresh air, try dancing in the rain!

 

Alkis Raftis