Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Save The Last Dance.

You see, growing up I have always failed to see the significance of a dance.

The one that takes two to tango. Ballroom dancing or that overrated prom dance that you kids look forward to. It may be because I was not brought up in a culture where these dances do not place a heavy emphasis, or that this aspect of Westernization has not been well spread to that part of the world that I grew up in. I grew up learning traditional Indian dance, Ghamelan, and occasionally the not-so-Malay-dances because really, they're all just jumbled up to one another. But that was when I was below 12. I can't dance, I can't sing. But I like to think so.

So point is, I grew up failing to see the significance of a dance.

There was this time, when The Killers' single from Day & Age, Human, came out, my friend texted me and asked why did Brandon Flowers wrote "Are we humans or are we dancers?". Unbeknownst of the accurate answer (which I found out 1 year and odd months later), I said it was because dancers were tied down to the beats and melodies of a song, they merely follow the beat and just dance. They're not given much space to exercise human qualities. Humans, are much more complexed than just dancing. Humans are constructed by many pragmatic truths and realities whereas dancers, are attuned towards the music.

Yet, I still fail to see the significance of a dance.

It was in class that it hit me. A dance (at least a metaphorical one) shared by two individuals is brilliantly beautiful.

Two individuals meet at a mutual ground, and take a test of the compatibilities of their minds. If their minds are compatible, they move in sync in the dance. They reciprocate with the beat of the music. They don't need to put much effort to collaborate, because even to the slightest move and the way they hold each other signifies the common ground that they share.

On the other hand, if they fail to meet in the common ground and feel one another, that's where the rupture is. If it was a collaboration and negotiation that we look for, that can be arranged in all human interactions and what you need is just tolerance. But dances take more than that, it takes a common feeling found in that mutual ground of two individuals. No technical aspects are required. After all, you're told to feel the music not analyse it. You sing and feel the lyrics, not criticize the structure and the grammar of its lyrics.

And that's what it's supposed to be like.

You can dance your entire life with the people you meet. The choreography will differ from one dance to another. It will also, gives you different impacts in your life. You can definitely always try a new dance routine with a new dance partner. But ask yourself this: Do you have to be technical about it or do you just let it come naturally?

1 comment:

woolf said...

Will you dance with me?