Just Dancing the Surface
When
I was young, the annual bazaar at our church was one of the most memorable
events that I was always enthused to attend. My favorite part of the weekend
was the festive dance held on Saturday night after the grand auction and
barbeque dinner. I would watch in eager anticipation as the band would set up
their equipment on stage and tune their instruments. The vivacious melody would
trickle and fill every crevice of the hall, and the walls would vibrate to the
beat. Soon the bare floor would become crowded with dancing feet. My first
dance partner was my dad; he would inexhaustibly circulate around the dance
floor with me song after song. For fun I would stand on the toes of his shiny,
black cowboy boots as he shuffled across the bare floor. However, even though I
was exposed to dancing at an early age, it was not until much later that it
became one of my passions. In fact, I did not reconnect to my passion until I
was a sophomore in college when I enrolled in a beginner ballroom dance class
at the
At
the beginning of my college career, I was unsure of not only my passions, but I
also doubted myself. Thomas Caryle reminded me that “the fear of unbelief is
unbelief in yourself.”[1] My
first step was to believe in myself and my capabilities as not only a student
but as a person too. Mastering the basic techniques of different dances in my
UT ballroom class gave me confidence that I could succeed at whatever I focused
on. Being able to teach others helped me connect to something greater than
myself. I was able to unify my thoughts and aspirations by connecting my
passion of dancing and teaching. Before, I felt completely isolated from the
rest of the world and at odds with myself; I had no awareness of my spiritual
being. The hopelessness I experienced is best expressed by the quote: “Despair
meant the refusal to realize the true self by devotion to the Eternal.”[2] My
conversion eliminated the desperation I had felt; I was able to unify my
thoughts and connect with others. I became aware of my “Centre of Indifference”
which “represented the soul’s ability to cast aside an enervating egotism in
order to attain a broader perspective by which man’s obsessing sorrows would
seem of little cosmic import.”[3] I
no longer felt alone and lost after I shared my enthusiasm for dancing by
teaching others.
When I dance, I forget all my worries and
stresses in life and purely concentrate on moving to the beat of the music. It
allows me to release my inhibitions, anxieties, worries, and thoughts in order
to clear my mind and connect to the place I occupy. I focus on the moment, and
I can convey my emotions through physical expression. “For art comes to you proposing
frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass,
and simply for those moment’s sake.”[4] Dancing
connects the art of music with the mind and body so that they become integrated.
There is something very natural and methodic about moving to a rhythm.
Throughout the world, every culture has created a unique style of music and
dancing. It connects and bonds individuals. 
My
partner and I explore and occupy the entire room as our feet glide across the
floor. We travel together and become part of the space we inhabit; we connect
to the “genus loci” of the place. Norman Crowe expresses the necessity for
connecting to a place: “A sense of place concerns that need to find a familiar
landscape as refuge from the unknown, perhaps from the terrifying prospect of
being set adrift in what would otherwise be a dimensionless, timeless, and
chaotic world.”[5] My
partner and I are able to connect our feelings to each other and the space we
occupy; only then we are able to release and express these emotions through our
physical movements. A short video clip of my partner John and me two-stepping
shows how important it is to keep a connection not only with each other but
also with the floor. Two
step demo
My commitment to
dancing has fueled my desire to teach others. For instance, I volunteered to be
a teaching assistant in the summer of 2005 once I completed the beginner UT
ballroom class. I became the instructor of the Beginner Country Western class
for Dance International in the summer of 2006, and I began teaching private
lessons to individuals as well. I have become extremely involved and committed
to working at Dance International. Currently, I am studying International Dance
techniques in order to take my Associate exam in April to become a certified
dance instructor. Once I am a certified teacher, my goal is to work part time
at the studio teaching others in order to pay for graduate school. I have
discovered that teaching allows me to personally connect with others, and it
forces me to efficiently communicate with them. Instructing others also encourages
me to think outside my frame of mind in order to relate to them. Furthermore,
it is a true reward to witness the success of others and know that I was able
to reach out and help them. The connection formed between a teacher and student
is a unique and an unforgettable bonding experience. “Not the fruit of
experience, but experience itself, is the end.”[6]
Every interaction between individuals varies and can be a learning experience
for both of them. Teachers can convey powerful messages and guide others.
“There needs but one wise man in a company and all are wise, so rapid is the
contagion. Great men are thus a collyrium to clear our eyes from egotism and
enable us to see other people and their works.”[7] Inspiring
teachers can open the eyes of their students and help them find a greater
meaning in life. “This is the key to the power of the greatest men, -their
spirit diffuses itself.”[8]
Individuals seek in others what they can not find in themselves. For instance,
a student seeking passion in their life might find a sense of direction by
encountering a motivated person. Teachers are a source of motivation. “For a
time our teachers serve us personally, as metres or milestones of progress.
Once they were angels of knowledge and their figures touched the sky. Then we
drew near, saw their means, culture and limits; and they yielded their place to
other geniuses.”[9]
As I become a
better dancer, I am more knowledgeable and can teach more advanced techniques
to others. For me, dancing and teaching have become intertwined. I help others
discover the emotional release they can have by dancing. My goal is to help
them link the beat of the music with the rhythmic movement of their body. It is
essential to make this connection because, “without recognizing our own
emotions, we will be poor at managing them, and less able to understand them in
others.”[10]
For instance, one of the greatest challenges my students have to overcome initially
is the ability to accept failure. Everyone makes mistakes and learning mistakes
are no different. Often, students become frustrated when they can not
demonstrate a new figure on their first attempt. However, I remind them it just
takes repetition through practice and that no one is perfect. An individual
should feel humbled but not idiotic when confronting a new task. It is
essential for them to stay calm so they can manage their emotions and maintain
a clear train of thought. If individuals allow themselves to become frustrated,
they lose the ability to control their feelings and concentration. Through
dancing I have learned that it is much easier to understand a new concept by
breaking it down or relating it to a different subject with which the student
is familiar. I apply these same principles when I instruct beginners. “Leaders
execute a vision by motivating, guiding, inspiring, listening, persuading,-and,
most crucially, through creating resonance.”[11]
In my teaching, I strive to encourage others by positively reinforcing their
actions.
For
example, I have been teaching private lessons to a forty-seven-year-old
distinguished surgeon who desired to learn the two-step. I was amazed to find
out how often he doubted himself and expressed his initial failure to pick up
the basic step immediately. I was surprised because he was a well-accomplished
man in his field of expertise and I highly doubted he expressed these same
feelings of insecurity when he conducted open-heart surgery. Contrastingly, I
believe it is essential to connect and incorporate our characteristics that we
often express in our jobs to all realms of our life, therefore unifying and
connecting ourselves.
Self
awareness of my passions has allowed me to focus on my future goals. “In short,
self awareness facilitates both empathy and self management, and these two, in
combination, allow effective relationship management. EI leadership, then,
builds up from a foundation of self-awareness.”[12] I
have been able to improve my leadership skills by teaching others to dance. I
want to share the enthusiasm I have for dancing with others. In addition, I will
continue teaching others by following my interests in Vertebrate physiology. I
want to become a teaching assistant in Biology as my next leadership role. My
goal is to attend graduate school at the
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