Dance

Leisure Suits

I was born in 1963, just before Camelot was obliterated. By the time I started grade school, sartorial splendor was becoming a thing of the past.  In the 70s, countering the culture largely meant wearing informal, poorly made, unflattering, and often, just ugly clothes.  Changing one’s appearances was meant to denote changing  one’s attitudes. Relaxed fit clothing (before we called a particular style of jeans “relaxed fit”) was supposed to reflect greater freedom, fewer constraints, undoing structures of culture, and a more casual attitude. Adults were uptight; youths were tuning in, turning on and dropping out, which meant building a new harmonious society. Imagine. Then came those horrific Leisure Suits. Even then, I thought they were hideous and silly. The worst part was that Leisure Suits were for dressing up. They didn’t look comfortable or flattering, and came to represent a cheap, synthetic, and middling culture; a culture that was apathetic and confused, low brow and lazy.

A generation later, our children have grown up with a more robust culture. While access to information and communication has been revolutionized in the last generation, there has also been a renaissance of leisure activities and accoutrements. The leisure business is enormous, and people invest great time and money into leisure activities. This has been a terrific boon over the last generation, not only economically, but culturally. Pursuing a leisure activity such as a sport or art is productive. For years I have cautioned parents about over scheduling their children. Children (and adults) need unscheduled free time, but pursuing a hobby or activity (beyond looking at a screen) on a regular basis can provide skills that may go beyond the activity.

When we find a leisure activity that suits us, we strengthen ourselves and can expand. There are all kinds of attributes to all sorts of sports and arts, but the activities themselves often become metaphors for us. I was a great swimmer as a young child, and enjoyed the competence and strength I felt in the water. Many  years later in college, I swam every morning, as it felt like the only way my thoughts could flow in order to write papers. I hardly go to the pool for a swim these days, but I’m very much a swimmer in other ways, and yes, still a lifeguard of sorts. I tend to dive into whatever I pursue. Somehow, I’ve been able to stay afloat, treading from time to time, but mostly propelling myself forward using all my muscles, along the surface of the tide. I was well suited to swimming, and swimming suits me.

Those who are well suited to their work are often quite successful. It’s not always easy to find work that suits us. We often think of work as effort, and leisure as effortless, but there can be joyful effort in both work and play.  Leisure activities are not only ways to  have fun, unwind and relax, but are often ways in which we can more fully realize ourselves and develop our strengths to use in various capacities.  Leisure suits!

Let’s Dance!

If our kids don’t replicate our suggestions, have they learned? Have we taught? As parents and educators, we attempt to nourish, protect, guide, acculturate, civilize, enrich and encourage. As Andrew Solomon writes in his masterful work Far From The Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search For Identity, “ There is no such thing as reproduction.” Parents produce offspring. The idea is that the product of the parents is a new organism. Even when the children resemble the adults, they always grow away from us. Andrew Solomon’s book is devoted to children who don’t resemble their parents, but the lessons are true for all. Teaching and parenting is not a matter of replication.

In many ways education (whether parent or teacher) is dance. We choreograph, composing a sequence of steps and moves. We design a form and motions. Educators/choreographers direct movement. Our kids are dancers. As learners, they (and we) employ codified movements in various contexts. Dance is a form of social interaction, emotional expression, and performance. Most importantly it is movement. If we consider  educating as guiding our kids’ (and our) movement  in the domains of social interaction, emotional expression and performance, rather than as a sculpture (or worse, a reproduction of a sculpture), then we can experience individual human rhythms and energies, and appreciate their distinctions and likenesses through their gestures.  We can move along with them.

Education is movement!  Let’s Dance!

Future Tense

It used to be that the future was exciting.  Of course, that was in the past. Now, in the present, yesterday’s future, we fear the future. Whether it’s: terrorism, nuclear obliteration, the next super-bug, or super-storm; climate change, crushing debt, or no more jobs; politicians who don’t stand for us, corporations who speak over us, horse meat and hormones, or unriching education, we are growing increasingly more tense about the future.

We have ample evidence today that we have many issues to tackle.  Even more disconcerting, is the rationale against tackling issues. We see how seemingly intractable so many problems have become. People across the political spectrum have dug in their heels, and have been most concerned with ideological purity and political power. Instead of climbing mountains, or even seeing that shining city on a hill, we’re staring down fiscal cliffs. Cynics have divided us into makers and takers (although I’m not sure everyone would agree who’s who). Hope and change became nope and same. Everyone is disgusted and fearful.

Despite the reality upon which our fears are based, we are becoming blinded by the fear. When teaching History to high school students, I remind them of other periods when the world seemed like it was about to end, or at least had turned very dark. When they can imagine their grandparents’ world, and that life continued, and the future included their lives, they can begin to shift their perspectives.

History is a great teacher. So too are the arts. The combination is most effective in conveying ways in which humans have confronted issues and experienced difficulties and forged new ways to shape lives and communities. I encourage teachers to include paintings and music, as well as dance and theatre in their History classes. I also encourage a fusion of History with Math and Science, and of course integrating the arts in those classes as well. Perspective is important in each subject (and in life), and is easily exemplified in the arts. Students in Language Arts classes learn perspective (person) in grammar and literature (through character and voice). Education is not merely the accumulation of facts. It is in fact to enrich (not unrich) our lives; to broaden our perspectives.

As a nation, we have been struggling with accountability in education. Students are assessed; teachers are assessed; and schools are assessed. I’m not sure that our assessments are  actually geared toward improving education, despite the good intentions. Moreover, the focus on those assessments as the determiners of future status for students, teachers, and schools, has created greater tension and a more limited education.

Given the many challenges that we must meet in our schools, our communities, our politics, and in all aspects of our lives, it is easy to be cynical and fearful. When we are fearful, we shut down possibilities. When we nurture our creative instincts, we begin to think in the future tense, creating possibilities and improving  what was started.

That Tone of Voice

Those eyes…..That voice……

If I asked you who told us to fasten our seat belts; It’s going to be a bumpy night, would you hear that line in a gravelly woman’s voice? Would you see those great big piercing Bette Davis eyes? You can practically hear a biting comment from looking at her eyes.

Gregory Peck’s rich, soothing baritone voice, one of the most easily identifiable, is also inextricably linked to his performance as Atticus Finch in the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird”.  His voice became associated with warmth and justice, as he portrayed several characters  who represented our best angels and defended democracy. As an actor, he performed in an array of roles. Some, including Josef Mengele in “ The Boys From Brazil”, were the antithesis of his heroes, but Gregory Peck and his voice were primarily associated with benevolence, moral conscience, strength and intelligence on screen and off.

Riddle me this: What post-war actor-comedian appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show doing his impersonations and political sketch comedy the same episode The Beatles first appeared on the show? Frank Gorshin, aka The Riddler on the campy Batman television show, developed a  comedy career as an impersonator of fellow actors and of politicians. His voice was other voices. Impersonation was a popular staple of stand-up comedy in the 1960s and 1970s, and while it is still part of many a comedian’s repertoire, the emphases of comedy have changed. Still, Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin remains one of the great impersonations. It was a brilliant replica of the sound of Sarah Palin’s voice, as well as her vocal tics and mannerisms. Like Gorhsin’s and other comedic political impersonations, political voices as well as vocal qualities are showcased and accentuated.

So many people have paid tribute to the great movie critic Roger Ebert, who succumbed to a lengthy and incredibly difficult battle against cancer the other day. I am among those who listened to him from the 1970s on, and was enriched by his voice as an intellectual, as a movie lover, and as a human being of incomparable fortitude. Ebert lost the ability to use his anatomical vocal chords, but his voice was never silenced.

Yesterday, Hillary Clinton spoke at the  Newsweek/The Daily Beast’s Women in the World conference. Her speech was a call to action: “Let’s keep fighting for opportunity and dignity.”  Let’s keep fighting for freedom and equality. Let’s keep fighting for full participation and let’s keep telling the world over and over again that, yes, women rights are human rights, and human rights are women’s rights once and for all.”

Hillary Clinton, who “found her voice” in New Hampshire in 2008, has always been a voice for human rights, and specifically women’s rights. Whatever your political opinions, she has made audible the voices of those we can not hear.

Artists do the same. Consider Picasso’s Guernica. One of his most famous paintings, Picasso’s Guernica shows the horrors of war and the untold suffering inflicted upon civilians as well as soldiers. The painting helped to bring the Spanish Civil War to the world’s attention, and has since become an anti-war fixture, as a reminder of the tragedies of war anywhere, any time. Picasso’s voice was clear.

 Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso

http://www.pablopicasso.org/guernica.jsp

One of the most powerful voices to encapsulate African-American Southern Baptist culture (and history) is told through the entire body. Alvin Ailey’s iconic Revelations is not only still enjoyed as magnificent dance, but as an expression of profound grief and absolute joy. The work was autobiographically inspired (as finding and using our voices always is), but it speaks to universals from a historically and culturally specific time and place using African-American spirituals, gospel songs and  blues. Because Revelations is a dance piece, it’s physicality makes the piece immediate and eternal, as bodies in motion give voice to powerful emotions.

AAADT-in-Alvin-Ailey’s-Revelations.–Photo-by-Nan-Melville.jpg

In honor of those old actors whose birthdate was yesterday, Bette Davis, Gregory Peck, and Frank Gorshin, we salute them and their voices. We grieve the loss of Roger Ebert who lost his ability to use his vocal chords, but never lost his voice.

We’ve become frustrated with the noise of politics, but there are still voices of reason and justice–even in politics. But the arts are often the most articulate and inspiring of voices. Listen (and watch) for those inspiring voices, and use your voice not for shouting or vilifying, but for educating and creating peaceful possibilities.

Driver’s Ed

What don’t you want to be when you grow up? I knew from the time I was 16 that I didn’t want to be a Driver’s Ed instructor. In those days, they smoked an awful lot of cigarettes while in the passenger (co-pilot) seat. No wonder! What a horrible job! It’s as death-defying and thankless as any, and most of the time is spent with 16 year olds. The service that they provide though, is an hour a week relief to parents. Most teens will not be terribly insolent to an official driving instructor.

The Driver’s Ed part of parenting was one of the most difficult times. Well…..not the Driver’s Ed per se…..that was the relief. It was the rest of the time in the car with teenage kids the year prior to the license, and post license (waiting for their safe return, preferably without scratches or dents to them or to the car). I was particularly tense during those times (years).

Recently, I was thinking about that question that James Lipton asks at the end of “Inside the Actors’ Studio” from the Bernard Pivot questionnaire: What profession would you not like to do? And I still reacted with: Driver’s Ed Instructor. Then I thought about how perfect that is.

Some new drivers seem oblivious. They have enjoyed being passengers, and want the freedom of being drivers, but never considered all that must be taken into account. Others are afraid of the power. They are so fearful of causing an accident or of making a mistake, that they not only make more mistakes, but create a fearful environment for those next to them as well . Still others are exhilarated by the power and the energy and the sense of freedom that comes with driving. They may need more reminders about caution, and to slow down. It’s always an adjustment, though. Sometimes, even for those who are quickly comfortable behind the wheel, and have an innate calm and good depth perception and quick instincts, there is still a bit of adjustment. They not only need to fit comfortably and see accurately, but like learning to dance with a partner, coordinate the footwork and accelerate and brake with proper timing and emphasis. Everyone must make the proper adjustments and practice, practice, practice.

As educators and parents, we are all Driving Instructors! We provide the rules and the basic techniques. We brief our kids on speed limits and safety features. We remind them to check rear view mirrors and blind spots, and tell them to always keep their eyes on the road!

I guess we are also accountants and consultants and waste managers and……

Right of Spring

As an arts and education activist– a culturalist– I am always delving into how traditions and cultural symbols and expressions reflect our ideas and ideals, as well as inspire. This week many celebrate Passover and Easter, and recount the ancient stories of slavery to liberation, sacrifice and resurrection. Families and friends feast on foods and participate in rituals that evoke these tales, and seek relevance to our own struggles. We have  the opportunity to celebrate the newness and beauty of the nature and culture of Spring.

 

Aside from religious rituals of Spring, I was thinking about other cultural expressions, and of course Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” sprung to mind. For those not familiar with the music, it hardly evokes images of Spring. The music is harsh and, although interesting, is almost the opposite of the way we like to think of Spring as crocuses, chirping birds and fluttering butterflies. Similarly, the ballet, originally choreographed by Nijinsky, was initially poorly received as the dances and dancers were contrary to audience notions of beauty and grace or the loveliness of Spring. The music and ballet (and also Matisse’s “Dance” that was painted around the same time as Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”composition) recalled elements of paganism in an avant-garde approach. Their modernist works upended cultural notions and referenced paganism as a means to pushing cultural boundaries. If Spring was about transformation and (re)birth, the birth of modernism transformed cultural sensibilities (in frightening geo political ways as well). This modernism is over a century old.

 

We often think of Modern as new, but what is the new Rite of Spring? We still have much to transform.  A couple of years ago, the world watched as uprisings across the Arab world gave rise to what was coined the Arab Spring. There was hope and possibility in the air that dictatorships and harsh rule and economic inequalities would be transformed , and that Democracy would ensue.

 

As of this writing, the Supreme Court is examining the legal implications of gay marriage. At this moment in our history, it seems as though public opinion is far ahead of the Court on gay marriage. In previous eras, the Court created the legal paths for civil rights, and cultural attitudes had to adjust to the legal reality. Now, we have a different situation: The Supreme Court is wrestling with the right to marry after the cultural shift toward marriage equality for gay couples. This is the Right of this Spring. Now we need new cultural arts compositions to reflect our new ideals and inspire the next generations.

The After Life of Pi

Happy Pi Day!

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159.

Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.http://www.piday.org/learn-about-pi/

The idea of and for Pi Day is to celebrate Pi (which also happens to be Albert Einstein’s birthday). In elementary schools and university Mathematics departments, students and teachers celebrate with anything associated with the number 3.14….. and eating pies, and probably watching the movie The Life of Pi (which has nothing to do with figuring out how many digits follow 3.14159 or the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter). For the young students, Pi Day can be an introduction to geometry, ratios, and noticing numbers and the significance of patterns. For the university level (and beyond), Pi Day is celebrated with contests and the joy of playing with numbers and seeking to go beyond our current level of calculations. For the rest, those beyond the early education years and not serious math enthusiasts, Pi Day is cute, and reminds us of the very basic math concepts and rules that our younger students are celebrating today. For too many, our abilities and interests  in Math do not extend beyond the elementary Pi Day.

If Pi Day (or Black History Month, or Women’s History Month), or any other demarcated subject celebration, is to truly have an impact, we must go beyond the superficial celebrities of the celebrations. Pi Day (and Black History Month and Women’s History month etc…) may have initially raised awareness and interest in subjects and important personalities associated with the subjects, but when we keep these celebrations as peripheral to our everyday learning, we limit our abilities to expand .

Too often, after the early years, Math is taught as a series of rules, and those who are not particularly interested in using these rules, often miss opportunities to connect the rules to other applications, or developing mathematical awareness. So many people who are not driven toward studying or working in STEM fields, somehow get through their math courses without acquiring much mathematical knowledge. Few develop the appreciation to see mathematically.

As one who has more of an artistic temperament and appreciation than a mathematical habit of mind, I encourage others to learn more about seeing mathematically. One of my favorite writers on the subject of math is Steven Strogatz. He wrote a series in the New York Times entitled “The Elements of Math”, where he made mathematical concepts available to anyone by real life examples that were expressed in delightful prose. It was like being a tourist with a personable, interesting, caring, and joyful tour guide through some mathematical terrain.  I also recommend Strogatz’s book The Joy of x: A Guided Tour of Math, From One to Infinity.

http://www.stevenstrogatz.com/the_joy_of_x.html

Whether it’s Pi Day or any other subject celebration, we need to use these reminders that rather than superficial celebrity celebrations or simple associations, these are starting points. We can integrate these important lessons into other subjects and contexts and develop greater understanding and appreciation, as well as cultivate new habits of mind that we may have missed along the way.

So, Happy Pi Day!  And may you explore infinite possibilities!

Art Forms

I have no particular talent. I can carry a tune, so I can sing along, but my voice is not particularly interesting or especially pleasing. Likewise, I can enjoy dancing, and have some rhythm, but my ability to retain choreography is lacking. Even basic party crowd pleasers can be awkward for me. I’m a lousy photographer. Actually, I’m no photographer at all. At least I have a phone. I can’t paint or draw or sculpt. I took piano lessons for a few years as a kid, and can’t play at all. I didn’t dare try any other instruments. I enjoyed being part of stage productions, but not because I was any thespian. I just had fun despite my lack of talent.

For me,creating art in any variety, was an alien experience. What I heard musically, I couldn’t reproduce (except in an ordinary voice, best blended among other voices and instruments). What I wanted to capture with a camera, rarely appeared as I saw it. Dance as rhythmic movement to music was always a good diversion, but memorizing steps was not natural for me. There seemed to be a disconnect between my memory and my feet. Likewise with the piano: I could hear the way the music should be, but my fingers couldn’t reproduce it. And the graphic arts eluded me entirely. Yet, I have always gravitated to the arts. The arts may not have been my  own expression, but learning to appreciate the arts and how to see art, hear music, and how the body can move, has shaped my entire life.

Like language, arts reflect cultural attitudes as well as manifest individual expression. The more one learns the grammar, the more one can access and comprehend and be enriched. I may lack certain abilities necessary for producing my own art form, but I have learned how to see and hear–how to appreciate, and that appreciation of all forms of art and their connections to all of life has enhanced my life experience.

As an educator, I can not underscore enough the power and significance of developing an appreciation for the arts. It is part of literacy. Like language, the arts connect ideas with expression. They are not peripheral. Not everyone needs to have artistic talent, but the arts are necessary for everyone. We need not be practitioners, but we do need to cultivate our appreciation and train our senses. Art is a human instinct. It drives culture. Art forms.