A Picture Perfect World

I got to talking about teamwork with someone last weekend, that a piece of dance, especially group dance, involves a high level of teamwork, no lesser than track and field, playing football and being part of a uniform group.

A whole dance cast operates like a corporation, where everyone, no matter which level of the hierarchy, plays a part.

As some of you may know, I am actively involved in the upcoming President's Star Charity and I was directing and choreographing an item when an untrained artist approached one of production assistants and exclaimed that she thought one particular portion of the choreographed movement was too small and insignificant for her.

The production assistant gave her feedback to the Assistant Director who in turned notified me about the artist's concern. I however, made the decision to keep that part of the choreography.

Incidents of such nature are apparent off-stage as well. There are so many parallels to life and the dance/ stage arena. You see, this person was only looking at the whole item from a secular standpoint - failing to see how her intricate, no less important, movement affected the overall picture… how she complements her fellow performer’s sometimes larger and more dramatic choreography.

Choreography, is similar to life's blue-print. It is a mosaic of unique and varying degrees of movements, characters, tempos, timings and levels. The seeds of conflict and the breakdown of cooperative achievements and the sanctity of total art immersion are jeopardized when selfish considerations are put before the whole. The choreographer, director or composer sees the synergy of individual characters and manipulates the canvas (stage in this case) to present an engaging tapestry of little things that come together beautifully. We all play a part.

The stage is the frame, the choreography is the landscape and performers are part of the picture. Dance really is moving art.

My parting note: It would be picture-perfect if humanity would consider daily pursuits of social harmony. How picturesque it would be!