Beyond Ballet

What is dance? What does it mean and is it necessary to our daily lives? I started to ask myself these questions and so many more. But to understand dance we need to know what it means. According to the webster dictionary it means to move one’s body rhythmically usually to music: to engage in or perform a dance. To move or seem to move up and down or about in a quick or lively manner and the word dance comes from Middle English dauncen, from Anglo-French dancer.

Dancing, to dance, the dancer plays an important part of our life whether we realize it or not. Dancing is another form of story telling or expressing emotions to another. Dancing is very important in some cultures as it brings together a community to celebrate. Now in North America when we think celebrate we automatically think of achievement like graduation, wedding or party. In other cultures like the African culture dance is about story telling, using their bodies, costumes, props or items to share historical events. Dance helps mark historical events, they use dance to encourage healthy crops, to honour the king and queen, weddings and celebration. Dance in African culture is not only fundamental but is enjoyable too. It brings together different cultures and spiritual religions. Dance is such an integral part of their society that it is embraced whole heartedly.

The Indigenous culture also uses dance, costumes, props and music to pass down their history to the next generation. Each dance tells a story and has deep meaning and roots. Dancing takes an enormous amount of strength, flexibility and agility. This is not something that happens over night. Most, not all, but most dancers train their whole lives to become a master in their craft. They found something that allows them to push their bodies physically, spiritually and emotionally to connect with an audience. There is so much story telling that happens on the stage. A really great dancer will make it look easy and flawless. But what we, as the audience, don’t see is the amount of time and energy it takes to learn a piece.

Once at the higher level in your dance career you are only introduced to the dance in a short period of time. What is expected is that you pick up the piece quickly and then train on your own for hours practicing and working through the movements so that then you can add personality and character to the dance. Each choreographer creates a story through movement, gestures and it is up to the dancer to portray that to the audience. Add in lighting, sound, costumes, set pieces and props, all items that are meant to enhance the dancers performance and the audiences experience.

Dancers train for hours each day taking classes to keep their bodies in top shape. Their dedication is unwavering. They train like an athlete but perform like an artist. Shoulders down, lift, contract, point, stretch, reach, soften, higher, bend…these are all words that go through a dancers mind at any given moment while they are on stage. Then add in their choreography, music and counts. To become a professional dancer it takes a huge commitment from not only the dancer but their support community of family, friends and colleagues.

Dancers defy the laws of physics as the leap and suspend themselves into the air all while looking graceful. The power itself comes from the plie. Whether you are jeteing across the stage, pirouetting or jumping the stronger the plie the higher the jump. Most dancers also train outside of the studio. Dancers will strength train and incorporate a cardiovascular routine to their regime. Just like professional athletes, dancers do not take time off. Next time you go to a dance performance, a ballet, a musical theatre piece, or a concert, what you will see on stage from the dancers is years of hard work, specialized training and dedication.