The Creative Movement

When I first got a blog, I titled it "...And So She Would Dance..." because my life was all about dancing at the time. Then I found myself out of school, selling security, working all sorts of jobs that weren't very much directly related to the arts or dancing, and felt like some of my identity was gone or lost from me. So I changed the title of my blog again to, "...Dare to Dream Big..." Now I sit here and think, I'm ready for another change. But to what should I change to? I feel like I've been recently going through an enlightenment period, after being in the dark for so long. Back in school again hoping to finish, I'm already living proof that I can live the dream. I think the next phase in my life is going to be "The Creative Movement." This is how I have evolved as a person and how I've changed my view of the "Dancer Me." I don't dance just because it is fulfilling for me, or because it is gratifying to move my body and perform in front of an audience. If I couldn't dance tomorrow, I probably wouldn't die. I just think that without dancing I wouldn't entirely be alive. A huge part of me connects deeply with the elements of the creative process that we study in my dance classes. I love to create, I love to think deeply, and I love to challenge the mind, and in connecting my body to my mind, and my spirit. A nice but smug guy once told me, "I'm studying enginieering. It's useful for everything, and I can find work in that field without any problems. Look around you, it's everywhere! I bet you can't point to one thing in this room that wasn't inspired by an engineer. People will always need engineers. Do you know who the ultimate engineer was? ...God." I don't know why but this flashy comment just rubbed me the wrong way. Was my worth any less because I was a dance major? What point was he trying to get across? Maybe I should have been an engineer. It recently brought me to this new thought. I've always liked to imagine God as a dancer. I don't believe God would have bestowed the gift of dance to me, if he had not been one. God must have also seen some value in the education of dance and the arts because I don't think it would be here today, as a choice of study, had it not had its' purpose. But if I ask people, "Do you know who the ultimate dancer was?" I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be inclined to say God. And if they did, it sounds sort of funny and sacrilegious. Perhaps you should look at dance from a different scope. Dance, particularly at BYU, puts great emphasis in the creative process for a dance major. So I spend most of my time in class thinking creatively. I love the creative process, I love creating movement, and creating meaning with my body. So I ask, "Do you know who the ultimate Creator was?...God." Haha. Funny, isn't it. I've always been asked in a high pitched questionable voice from practical people of the world, "What are you going to do with dance? Teach?" Or perhaps they say, "Dance, how fun!" in a way that means, it's a fun thing to do, but is it really worth the time and money in school to just have "fun" and not get "a real" degree? I told my father one day in a delightful conversation at the diningroom table. "Honestly dad, I don't know how much dancing is really going to help me in this life. But I do know how it will apply in the next life. If my goal is become like my Father in Heaven, then why not strive to be a creator. I love creating. I love creating and seeking God's direction and inspiration. I see so much beauty in The Creation, and know this is what I'm studying. I'm studying how to manifest in this life that God the Eternal Father is real. The greatest skill I take from dance is not how many turns I can do, or how high I can hold my leg up in the air. The greatest skill I will walk away with is how to become more like my Heavenly Father, how to share my testimony of this understanding with the world, and how to be a Creator. And all of these things will manifest themselves in my life, even if I don't "literally" dance.