This April, Erin was celebrating her birthday with family, friends, flowers and her favorite fluffy cat, a gray tabby Main Coon with expressive emerald eyes. She’s from Richmond, Virginia, but lives in New York, with her husband and daughter, where her talent for the multidisciplinary merges two worlds: one where the body tells stories and another where letters dance. Or is it the same?
She is a ballet and ballroom dancer, a dance teacher, a writer of now three novels and an editor at a non-profit digital magazine. Everything seems to fall into place under the overarching mighty spirit of dance.
I interviewed her and published the piece on my blog, but I thought the outcome was worth sharing once again.
So here a few espresso shots of what lessons we can learn…
LESSON #1 – BE CURIOUS
“I’ve always been naturally curious.”
It’s crucial never to stop learning: talk to experts, study their work, gain more insights. Then, you can share the marrow of your discoveries through your experience of dance. Never forget that the interest people carry for your craft mirrors the attention you put into it.
LESSON #2 – LIVE WITH PASSION
“My passion has been, currently is, and probably always will be dance.”
Living with passion is about seizing the opportunity, directing one’s energy towards it and transcending it. The same way curiosity shows your interest, passion tells your story. Both are crucial to step beyond all limitations.
LESSON #3 – CONNECT THE DOTS
“Dance is unique in that it, just by its very nature, is a cross-disciplinary activity, both in practice and performance […] I’ve trained myself to seek connections between what can be, at first, disparate elements.”
Dance embodies the physical, the mental, the emotional, the intellectual and the existential. It can have even an influence beyond its circle, from life lessons to learning strategies. The limitlessness of the craft carries in its practice an intensity and a wisdom that narrow paths cannot achieve.
LESSON #4 – REINVENT YOURSELF
“My passion-centered life is a direct result of being willing to reinvent my place in the dance world.”
Unexpected obstacles, like injuries, and personal changes, like new interests, can make it or kill it. It can nurture the passion and multiply it, only if one knows how to reinvent the self. It’s your capacity to sail through the stormy changes that will get you to port.
Last words…
“Be open to reinvention: yourself, your dancing, your goals, your life.”
Interested in reading the full article? Check it here.
Author: Alexandra Kodjabachi
Exclusively for Dance Comp Review