Structure In Dance
Being on my dance journey has led me to move from an intuitive stance. I flow with whatever desires to be expressed in the moment. What I’ve noticed happening is how I tend to repeat certain moves. I’m not too bothered by that as I see dance as a means of having fun and releasing whatever I’m holding in my body. Wild and free, so to speak. Or is it — wild and free?
Dance course insights
I’m taking a dance class in transformative dance. This is my second week and I find myself meeting a lot of resistance towards structure. There are so many awesome things taking place in this dance class — talented and down-to-earth teacher, super cool dance fairies and the array of movements we are being initiated into. Yet, despite all these wonderful things I’m still caught up in resistance to this process. A love-hate relationship, if you will.
What’s the resistance about?
I’m being all heady here, but what I first noticed was my reluctance to even attend the class — this was the 2nd week. I was very much aware of when it was starting, but despite knowing this I kept putting off the preparation to leave because a part of me didn’t want to go. In the end the part of me that did won the argument and I went.
Now, during the dance class I noticed how the right side of my body felt less malleable compared to the left. I felt pain in my thigh, and that changed the quality and extent to which I could move. Very limiting.
The class itself was very enjoyable and I learnt new ways of moving my body. The integration process is a bit trickier. Anyway, when we were given the space to free-flow and to combine the elements we had learnt, I felt more inclined to be wild than to incorporate the different movement possibilities our teacher had gifted us. I guess I ended up doing my best to free flow while reluctantly implementing the new moves.
When we had a sharing circle, I voiced my reluctance and addressed how I felt as if I was being called to work more with my masculine energy… Since it’s the right side of my body that feels resistance, I feel it connects to my inner masculine energy. The feminine desires to be wild and unyielding, and maybe that’s where the resistance comes from. My inner masculine — the structural side, the energy that provides form and direction — has not been properly integrated and ‘worked on’. That part also has its place, as the masculine and feminine balance each other out.
Dance of the masculine and feminine
The feedback I received was that most women experience this resistance, and that we tend to think of freedom as having no structure, but actually more freedom can be acquired within the structure. One does not have to negate the other. If anything they support each other.
Having structure in the dance creates a different type of flow than only being wild in ones dance. I can totally see this when I watch my teacher dance. He has this flow to his movements that isn’t hindered by the structure. In fact, the structure — the various movements and steps, isolations etc — strengthen and amplify the beauty of the dance itself.
Also, as he mentioned, he can move much more freely within the structure because he has a various set of dance moves to draw from.
My take-away
I feel like my resistance to the structure is absolutely worth being aware of, but — thanks to the feedback I received, I can also take on the other perspective that pertains to the positive sides of having form to ones dance. Sure, for now I may grasp the idea on a purely mental level, however I do think that after a month or so of dancing I will start to appreciate the beauty of having some level of structure and form within my movement practice.
~Chantell~
