Let's Ce

Comedian Steve Martin once said, “Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.”

Firstly let us ignore the statement about architecture because any dancers out there know perfectly well that dancing about architecture is not only possible but has become quite trendy – yet beautiful. Let us instead focus on the idea of talking about music, talking about dance, and talking about art in general.

Because dance specifically is a visual time-based art form it is sometimes assumed that talking about dance is not as important as performing it, engaging in it, or viewing it. However, I strongly disagree.

Dance has always come up against a barrier when compared to other professions because there are still a great many people who do not see dance (or the arts for that matter) as a legitimate job. How do we change this? We talk about dance, we write about dance, and we keep pushing to keep “the academic” side of dance alive. Thankfully today there are many more people in our communities who know how to read and write, however not everyone dances so the easiest way for us to communicate our art is via “the common tongue.” By writing, reading, and talking about dance we can help spread dance throughout communities and solidify it as a serious and respected occupation in everyone’s minds. Through discussion and writing we can also help more people understand the beauty and complexity of dance that they may have otherwise missed.

In the dance community we can not shut ourselves out, we need to be able to talk about dance and to write about dance to ensure it’s survival, and to ensure that is can be enjoyed by all.