“Sé”, more than a video, more than dance

I'm realizing that now I appreciate more and more all those moments where a group of people get together to share their passion for dancing, for music and for doing whatever they want. Without any other rule, just sharing what inspire us and what we are.

Past

Insecurity

I started dancing more than 10 years ago. As a teenager, I saw someone dancing on TV and I though “I want to go to that dancer's class”. And that's how it happened.

And since then I haven't been able to stop dancing.

I have had in mind to write something about what the world of dance means to me (of course...).

I thought about writing different posts showing professionals from the sector, with my favorite videos. Usually, they are my references for other projects and, in the end, here is where I have all those references that inspire me. But after starting it, I didn't see any value in it.

Present

Truth

At Sismògraf 2017 I discovered Chey Jurado (header picture). And seeing his new video... I needed to share it.

Maybe, there will be people who "Sé" (meaning "To be"), the video, does not make them feel anything. But for me... I could see a lot of truth in there.

In these last months, in which I have not been able to dance almost at all (and surely the year that I have spoken the most about the subject...), is when I have had the most time to think about what dance represents for me. And I begin to understand why I appreciate it so much and never want to stop dancing and learning about movement.

And it's just that it's hard for me to put into words everything I've learned over the years and I haven't found a way to share this in an interesting way. More than interesting, really transmitting what it has made me learn.

Until now.

"For once you don't control anything […] and your body moves intuitively. We are very used to the mere fact of moving for aesthetics, how it looks and that's it, not how I feel, but how it looks. So it's a good exercise to realize that if you feel good moving around you don't need the mirror. If you feel good, if you feel comfortable, it looks beautiful, that doesn't lie."

I began to watch other videos and I have come across with one where Chey Jurado gave a masterclass at "Fama to Bailar" (a dance reality show at spanish tv) in 2019. It was then that I began to write.

From the tv program video,... I believe that what happens in this type of masterclasses cannot be explained, it is only lived, experienced, and that is why it is so difficult for me to write about this.

Future

Improvisation

"You're continually making mistakes, and that's improvisation, to me."

One of the things that I hope that are different in the future is education (at least where I was educated in Argentina-Spain). Apparently it has no relation to everything written so far.

In recent years, I have been realizing all the things that I would have liked to learn in elementary school, high school or even in university... Where I have learned to memorize, to obey, to imitate... I know that this is not 100% like that but I feel that outside of formal education is where I have learned the most.

And that's where dance comes in. And not just dance, I would say art/culture, in general. I go back to the past, to the first WTF! Jam Session (at Jamboree) that I was... I didn't believe what I was seeing and I remember never wanting it to end. At the same time I was going to dance classes where I had to force myself to get rid of my fears and insecurities. Where I finally began to enjoy improvisation.

And thinking on all this, I see that I appreciate more and more all those moments where a group of people get together to share their passion for dancing, for music and for doing what they want without any other rule than to share what they want, what they are.

I have learned to be wrong, to respect, to learn from those around me and above all to learn to understand myself, to listen to myself and to be honest with others, and I have learned the importance of all of this.

And I hope that soon I can see in schools that from a young age they teach us to think, to reason, to give our own opinion without being judged, not to judge, to understand our own feelings, to know how to express what we feel without fear...

...to improvise.

And so I am, improvising to learn all this.