BEings: In Dance We Trust!

Emily Bufferd | Sep 03, 2008 | 0

Philip and Elise - BEings

Hi all, so let me first say that life is so hectic in that crazy good kind of way.  The Works in Progress show at Dance new Amsterdam is coming up so soon so we will be rehearsing a lot in the coming week and a half.

Claire - BEings

Philip - BEings

We had a great rehearsal last night!  The piece being presented, as you know already, is about trust.  I decided to blindfold the dancers; who are wonderful and did not walk out of rehearsal when I told them this!  I am sure you can imagine putting four dancers onstage who cannot see half a foot in front of them would be absolutely brilliant, so obviously I had to come up with a way for them to be blindfolded so that they are still able to dance, but at the same time have to rely on each other a great deal.  I feel like this idea to them was one of those outlandish sounding modern excercises where you think it is the nuttiest thing you have ever heard, and then you do it and it really is not that bad.  My personal favorite is the one where one partner closes their eyes and the other partner leads them around the room, making sure you do not bump into a wall, a person, fall down, etc.  I think that is one of the most difficult things to do; allow someone to lead you blindly.  How often do we give someone that kind of power over us?

Anyway, the main focus of this blog is about trust; such an important thing to have.  Trust is such a touchy subject in dance; you always hear, trust me, trust them, trust in yourself, the list is endless.  In everyday life too.  It is just one of those things we accept; this is someone I can trust and this is someone I cannot.  Also, we have various amounts of trust in our different abilities.  I trust in my ability to battement my right leg ten times in a row far greater than I trust in my ability to do a quad pirouette that same ten times.  In real life it is the same instance in that I trust in my ability to make a peanut butter sandwhich perfect everytime far more than I trust my ability to make a nice meal.  (Sidenote: I am working on my cooking skills!) These are just facts of life.  However, in dance we ask ourselves to trust other people to do crazy things with our bodies.  I asked Missy to let Philip dangle her upside down; that takes trust!  My dancers walk into rehearsal and I know they trust me.  They do not have to verbalize it.  I know that by them showing up, since they are not paid and certainly do not have to be there at all hours of the night, that they trust in me.  On the other side of that, I have a great amount of trust in them.  I trust that they will not butcher my vision, I trust that by the performance date the piece will be what a piece should be; poignant, clean, and well executed.  This is trust, and I think that as a dancer/choreographer/planet inhabitant; we all have it!

Believe me, trust does not come easy.  Everyone has been in a situation at some point where they thought they could trust and found out they were mistaken, but in dance, and life, the realization of how valuable that one emotion is becomes clearer all the time.

As always, let me leave you with that I am always happy to hear from you, so feel free to email me at emilybufferd@danceruniverse.com  And if you happen to be in the city and are looking to see some great dancin, come down to Dance New Amsterdams Works in Progress Series on Saturday, September 20th.  The show starts at 5:30.  We hope to see you there!

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Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap, Modern, Broadway, Ballroom, Teacher, Enthusiast, Parent, Retailer, Studio, Competitions & Conventions, Performance, Summer Study, BEings, company, new york (all tags)