A little something

Merce Cunningham, a revolutionary modern dancer, once said, “You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive.” There is no way to rightfully describe that moment in which you step on stage and bare your soul to the world. Every movement, pause, breath, look takes you closer to what cannot be described. I live and train as a dancer everyday just to return to those moments and share them with other people.

As a student of the University of the Arts I practice my art, modern dance, everyday. I never leave dance. I take every juicy, painful moment with me when I leave class and I let it saturate my existence. My goal in this art form is to share how deeply I love dance. I want others to experience the “fleeting moment” Cunningham so wonderfully described. After graduation I want to dance with others who share my passion and in turn find ways to give dance to those who would otherwise never experience it. The dance world right now is a secluded place. I want to open up our world, specifically to young students who are unable to afford dance or cannot travel to access this art. I want to tour through schools and show children that dance is a beautiful thing, and most of all we can all do it! Dance is not something that is meant to be kept in a box or only shown to the “right people.” It is a way to communicate and share what we feel. I want to share my love and appreciation for what someone else once showed me. After all, who am I to claim this passion as my own, truthfully I am just another borrower of dance and it is my turn to pass it along.

Just some thoughts
Shannon