In 1983, I entered a new world that eventually changed the course of my life.  I answered an ad in a local newspaper that was advertising the formation of a dance training class.  They were looking for individuals who had a background in drama and/or dance.  This was a training class sponsored by a major dance studio chain that had opened a franchise in Savannah, Georgia.  They needed teachers and there was a dirth if qualified people in the area.  At that time I found myself plunged into a world of absolutes.  Things were done a certain way and woe to the teacher that tried otherwise.  This was puristic thinking.  Now in defense of the franchise,it was a necessary evil.  In any franchise situation, there is a need for uniformity in order to standardize the product, even if the product is an art form such as dancing.  However, many take the absolutes from their franchised dance backgrounds into an independent setting.  The result is the tyranny of dance purism.

 

What is the tyranny of dance purism?  If you understand the meaning of the words, it becomes easier to understand the concept.  The word tyranny refers to absolute rule by a single idea.  Purism refers to being rigid in thinking.  By using this phrase in conjunction, I am referring to people that believe in an absolutely right and wrong way to perform a particular dance or dance move.

 

There is no absolutely correct way to perform any dance and any dance move but ther are relatively correct ways.  Dancing is a scientific art and not a artistic science.  There is a difference between the two concepts.  An artistic science emphasises the science over the art.  In a scientific art, we use scientific principles to compliment the art.  The Laws of Physics and the Principles of Kinesiology are used to improve and polish the dance art form in the same way that the knowledge of the different types of paint help painters but does not control them. However, in an artistic science, science is first and the art is secondary.  This is not unlike a person who follows the "paint by numbers" kits. They let their creativity be controlled by the science.

 

Once, when I made the statement that there is no absolutely correct way to perform a dance or a dance move but only relatively correct way to perform a dance or dance moves; a student with an extensive balletic background challenged it.  He asserted that ballet was the exception, howeve, he could not explain that if there is only one way to perform ballet, then why are there three schools of ballet, the Russian school, the French school,and the American schools of thought.

 

Now what is the result of dance purism?  The first result is the creation of dancers with a plastic appearance.  They reflect their studio's ideal of scientific perfection.  Unfortunately, this concept of perfection reflects the personality of the teacher or school and not the student's personality.  I have heard these dancers referred to as "studio dancers" because they look stiff and formal.  I call them dancing clones.

 

The second result is the destruction of all spontaneity from the dance perfomance.  I once knew one of these puristic dancers who would not hesitate to tell others that no one could match him in skill on the dance floor.  His one weakness was that he lacked the ability to improvise and reshape any figure he was performing at the time.  Whenever he was dancing in a social setting, if someone bumped into him or crowded into his personal space, he would lose his concentration and wiould have to stop and begin again.  A young smart-alec dicerned this weakness and whenever he was showing off on the dance floor, this young dancer would deliberately impose himself into his private space or bump into him in order to upstage him and make him look unskilled.

 

The third result is the limiting of creativity. Like any artistic activity, dancing is creative.  Every formal dance technique was at one time the interpretation of some talented dancer.  These dancers were in touch with their creative sides and were nto afraid to experiment.  The dancer mentioned in the paragraph above, the one who fancied himself as the greatest dancer since Vernon Castle, changed coaches every few years and every time he hired a new coach, that coach began to change everything about his dancing.  The ultimate result was a dancer who never developed his own voice or style.  After twenty years, he still looked plastic when he danced.

 

The fourth result is the stifling of emotional content in the dance.  All dance is the expression of emotion.  Ballroom dancing expresses the emotions between a man and a woman in its many forms.  Puristic thinking forces you to artificially create these emotions and then they will look forced and plastic.

 

Now there is nothing worng with studying standardized dance technique.  The ultimate goal of all technique is to duplicate with the body; the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual ebb and flow of the music.  The key here is not to become possessed by the technique but to recognize tbat it is a means to an end and not the end itself.  There are many things I cannot perform because of my age, weight, height, and the length of my arms and legs.  I am very tall with a long torso and short arms and legs.  I have to modify a lot of lines and poses on dancing as well as a lot of the movement technique inorder to make my dancing work.  Every dancer has the same situation.  Every person is different.  As artists, we dancers need to recognize, study, and even master the various techniques, but we also need the courage to take from others what is useful to us and discard what is njot.  In this way, our dancing will become a scientific art and not an artistic science, and we will never become enslaved by the tyranny of dance purism.

 

© 1998 by Kenneth Howard- All Rights Reserved