I have been contemplating this idea of why I love to create. Besides performing and helping someone’s vision come alive, I have found creation to be the greatest gift of life. I choose to work towards my goals with so much vigor and persistence because I believe it is my mission to share. This work is what bonds us to our purpose. When I work with a true heart, my efforts can be felt. When I truly wish to create positive change, alignment is found. When my positive thinking matches my genuine productivity, I find full engagement in the task at hand and complete it not for my joy but for the greater good of the whole.
Carl Jung developed the active imagination as a meditation technique wherein the contents of one’s unconscious are translated into images, narrative or personified and includes working with dreams and the creative self via imagination or fantasy. As a dancer, I am learning how to incorporate these methods to help bring out the creative intentions. I believe that our unconsciousness when translated into images is important to nurture in the process of my artistic pursuit. Bringing out these parts into my work allows greater authenticity to be achieved.
Dance is also a moral force. The discipline itself is an ongoing process of self revelation. The more I invest in my mind, body, and spirit, the more I awaken the parts that need nurturing. It’s like the feeling of being in love. I stay curious and excited; like a little innocent child who isn’t afraid to make mistakes. I move until I feel every inch of my body in alignment of the patterns I am making. Dancing until memories and long hidden experiences finally emerge through the shapes my body creates. Then discoveries of new movement language emerges, welcoming myself to dig deeper.
According to Durkheim, society functions to unite our sentiments through the collective symbols we share with one another. This is done through getting inside of ourselves by the use of external forces. Dance in general has given me a greater understanding of why this art form serves my contentment in life. It allows me to work incredibly hard, collaborate with others, analyze choices, think critically, and strengthened the relationship between the thinking self and the moving parts. This art has become so sacred, because most of my self revelations have emerged from dance. The authentic self that dance permeates for me never fails to reaffirm the sacrality of who I am and who I am becoming. The more I trust this path, I am bettering myself. Without realizing it, I am improving the world.
Photography by Alexx Duvall