On poledancing, circus and contemporary dance

Anna:
Good day today. 4 1/2 hours of dancing in the morning. First basic technique class, after that contemporary and then finishing off with a choreography class. Going back to dancing feels fantastic. It's developing in so many ways. Both physically and artistically. And it's humbling as well. Feels like a very good thing to take a step back from the activities you know you're good at and go in to something where everyone else are better, more advanced and more experienced than you are. To leave the familiar behind and throw yourself into new environments is daunting, for sure, but how developing.

It's for that exact reason that I think that I'm not going to take the tissue & trapeeze classes at piccolocirkus that I went to try this wednesday. It was great fun, everybody was very nice, we climbed high, twined ourselves into the cloth and made spectacular poses and did some cool drops. I believe that all the other beginners who were there got just what they wanted and more, and as much as I would like to say that I loved it, I felt like I had done it before.

I'm sure circus training could improve my technical level of poledance. No doubt about it. But right now for me, (running the risk of upsetting my circus friends) it's all the same in a way. It's the same search for new poses, new tricks. It's the same kind of 'Tahdaaa!-look at what I can do' kind of poses and moves. It's just like gymnastics or a strongman show. You show people something that most people can't do and then you get a round of applause. Too much show and too little poetry.

Some people would say that it's only when you have an extremely high technical level and when you know all the difficult tricks in the book that you are able to create or perform poetry. They might be right in a way, but also completely wrong. To have the possibility to do whatever you want with your body doesn't necessary mean that you will use it in all ways possible. And also, if you apply that sinister and strict perspective it almost inevitably raises the question: 'When are we technically skilled enough to start to perform outside the box, and who is to make that desicicion?'

What I'm trying to say is that I'am never going to be a chinese gymnast and that life is too short to let oneself be held back by strict ideas of virtuosity. I could probably be a better poledancer by taking circusclasses but what I want is something else. I want to discover new movements on the pole. Not new poses. I want to explore the understated. Not the glam. I want to look interesting and I'm no longer interested in the pretty. So here I am, dancing, dancing, dancing trying to find new kinds of movement and new ways of expression, hoping to take a few steps closer towards poetry.