There’s a famous quote from choreographer Merce Cunningham, it goes:
“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.”
14 years of dancing later the bare truth of that statement has never been more clear to me. I’ve quoted it countless times to friends and people asking about how it really is to be a dancer, and while i’ve understood it’s message it’s only after spending time in a professional company that it’s clicked with me how spot on this observation is.
You have to give everything and not be disappointed to get nothing back, you sacrifice, give up and commit to so many thing’s, all for that “fleeting” moment he talks about.
Tonight I’ve got another show in the theatre, feeling absolutely sick coughing away, but the show goes on, i’m on my quest for the days fleeting moment.
matthewohare 