The One Where the Dancer Needs Grace
The choreographer started class by repeating the words “progress, not perfection”, and additionally asked us to give ourselves grace, try not to hate on ourselves, and that she wished us a long and slow life of learning. What?! What is this? Again, she said-- progress , not perfection . What an easy thing to say in a class of grounded contemporary dancers who wear their hearts on their cropped t-shirts, dripping from the angles of their hinged movement. The burning sensation was almost immediate behind my skin, tearful tension building behind my eyes. This impostrous feeling that somehow I wasn’t meant to be in that room. Grace, Sarah, give yourself grace. This movement isn’t as familiar to your body, and that’s okay. Being uncomfortable is the first step of learning, in fact, as infuriating as that can be. So, because this style of contemporary dance isn’t what I grew up with as my first dance language, I felt in over my head, but I was adamant about sticking it out wit...