Dance is not life...
February 15th is a very special date for me, it was the first time I took a beginner’s dance class with Gloriana Retana. It wasn’t exactly my first encounter with dance, but it was one of the first and I think it was really the beginning of dance for me.
I took my first class in 2003, but it was more like a workshop given by Rogelio López. It included many things in a very short time, things that had to do with dance but also with life… At that time, I was too young to understand those things (I know it may sound strange, but it’s the truth), so I went back to do the workshop a year and a half later; it was worth it, I really understood some of the things much better than the first time and I also became very curious about dance. I enjoyed the workshop so much that I wanted to continue, but I have to say that I was afraid, afraid of not being able to do it, I knew that dance classes had to be different from the focus of the workshop and to be honest, I felt old.
But one good morning, I saw an ad in the newspaper about classes in the same place where I had done the workshop with a dancer from Rogelio’s company… for beginners and I said to myself “I want to do it, I have to give it a chance or I will regret it for the rest of my life”
So I joined and on a Tuesday, February 15th, I took my first dance class… and it was difficult :P not impossible but difficult, I felt like a whale, actually a wooden whale because you saw the others and they moved so beautifully, like dolphins :P and my teacher Glori… oh my god, she is incredible… so it’s a weird sensation but despite that feeling, I wanted to continue… and those 3 hours a week… were the happiest hours of the week…
Many things have happened since that day, I have had to change classes, I have been afraid of new teachers, I have auditioned, I have been accepted, I have been rejected :( I have cried and laughed… etc, etc.
I like dancing! I love it! I have even done crazy things because I want to keep dancing… for example, I work from 5:30 in the morning… because the schedule makes it easier for me to take dance classes.
Sometimes I get frustrated, I don’t know why people make faces when I say that I dance, or that I have to go to classes… “What classes? Didn’t you finish university already?” and I say “Yes, but I have dance classes” and people laugh!… or say… “oh… dance classes” and look at me like I’m crazy or have something wrong!!!!
Well, I don’t have any problem!!!!! I like to dance… Every person I know has something they like: reading, watching TV, going to the movies, cars, work, studying, computers, blogs, the internet, programming languages, photography, and they generally invest so much time and sometimes money (like me, I have to pay for my classes) and all tastes are valid. We should be able to do what we like… That’s why I don’t understand people’s faces when I say that I dance… I like to dance… period… I know it’s difficult!!! believe me!!!! I know it consumes a lot of my time, it takes money to be able to do it, I know that maybe I’m not good enough to be on a big stage, in a big theater or a big company… believe me, because it’s my time, my money, and I’m the one who dances and I know all that better than anyone else and still I like to dance…
So I will keep dancing as long as I can… because I like it, I could use my time studying or working extra hours… but no… I’m going to do what I like… to those who have a hobby that doesn’t interrupt their life at all… congratulations, I’m happy for you and you are too lucky!!! as you have no idea… for those whose likes are a little more difficult to develop or involve sacrifice… but still do it… congratulations too… and also my admiration, I salute you for your courage… and I hope you keep doing it…
Finally, I have a favorite phrase when it comes to dancing, which says: “Dance is not life, but it keeps alive all the little things with which the greatness of ours is built.” I don’t know who said it, so my apologies for using it without saying the author.
But for me, it is very true… I know that dance is not life… I have a family, a career, a job, etc, etc… but generally when I dance it is one of the moments when I feel most alive… I even feel like a better person, because I feel happy, then I do any other thing happy, because I know I also have the opportunity to dance… and that makes all the little things look better… and I really believe that it also helps me keep the greatness of life alive…