Why?

The heart of the dancer lies within the story line. You have to look and you have to find and discover it. That’s what it’s all about. It’s all about your journey. You must find it in yourself, then take the viewers into the ride, so your dancing must be sincere and fully open. No masks, no hidden agenda

By Ovidiu M. Ionel

“As a teacher and as a dancer I ask myself, why do I do this, why do I dance, why am I trying to lose myself, or find myself in an ocean of movement, something not easy to do sometimes. As I struggle to find an answer a force is pushing me to move each time I hear a song. Is this the desire to be part of that special song, or is this something more, a deep and unknown desire to add something more to it, to add myself and show my way of being to the world through energy in motion flowing on that little piece of music.

As I will explore the answers I ask of you to search the answers of these questions, and then show me the conclusion on the dance floor. I am not interested in words, but to see how you manage to transpose the story, to your dancing.

The heart of the dancer lies within the story line. You have to look and you have to find and discover it. That’s what it’s all about. It’s all about your journey. You must find it in yourself, then take the viewers into the ride, so your dancing must be sincere and fully open. No masks, no hidden agenda.

What do I want from a dancer? Yes, the technique is very important, it is the foundation of expressivity. You cannot dance without a good technique, a good balance, as you cannot sing without knowing your instrument. In this business the instrument is your body. But after your technique, your lines and your steps, I want to see the human, the story behind dance. This is what we should work, to give the possibility to the dancer to express himself even more than a good technique, to show himself “naked” on the stage. You shouldn’t hide behind the steps, because then you will remain only a copy machine of the technique, or a false dancer. A free and sincere dancer will always be remarked, and he will always have that something. Be free and without fear, as a child dancing alone in his bedroom, and then, you will win the heart of the viewers and find your true self! But this is, the hardest thing to learn. To be able to undress your masks through dance you need a very trained body with a very good technique, or you’ll be frustrated because it won’t listen to you. In today’s society, your true self is forgotten, buried deep under layers and layers of masks and lies you tell yourself everyday. You are taught to be ashamed of your true nature, the media takes care of this, and it is so much harder because we are in this business.

And don’t forget the most important thing. Each dance, each moment has a story you can tell only once. Your job, as long as you are on stage is to tell it well, even if you don’t have the technique. Yet. You must remind us who you are, and you must remember yourself who you are when performing. Otherwise, you’ll lose the reason why you’re here, why you’re dancing. You mustn’t bring just steps on that stage, you are embodying the entire experience of that moment, of the story you are telling, and the life you lived to get here.

A lot of couples come to me and ask about musicality. How can I be more musical, more expressive? It’s so simple! You must know when to groove, when to stay, when to sway, when to float. Easy, right? But to be so dynamic in your moves,means to have a great balance, an extraordinary center of yourself and of the couple. Force, power, balance, energy, knowledge, center, mind, feeling, stillness. All these things are pavement to musicality, and musicality is the base of expression. You cannot teach or understand music in motion until you understand your body, and until you have the power to command it, and the muscles to listen. Hear this again: the power to command, the muscles to listen, and the mind to pass through music, the soul to sing with it, because if you hear the beat/music and you move, it is already to late. Movement should be a song, another instrument, not a reaction to the beat.”

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