It’s the beginning of December, a time I’ve slated for being what I call, “Off the Grid.” I’m staying in a tiny mountain town in Southern California. Last night it snowed. This morning I’m sitting in front of the fire as I write. I don’t really have regular internet access. It’s spotty, so if I want to do anything substantive, I have to walk into town to sit at one of two cafés with wifi. So, it offers a a break from surfing the web, checking faceboook and twitter, and being glued to my email. I’m focusing on writing, dance curriculum and things like the great outdoors, friends, family and good food.
So although I don’t have anyone to dance with this month, I’m still thinking about it and working on it, just in a different way. And it gives me a chance to share my thoughts with you about dance and life and everything in between.
“Off the Grid” is a phrase that I often apply in private lessons. First I ask you to get on the grid, to imagine that you’re dancing on a large sheet of graph paper. You can only travel north and south or east and west. Your moves have to stay on the imaginary blue line; you can’t deviate. It’s about developing control and precision.
In dance, getting off the grid is about putting your dance out in the wild—onto the social floor. You don’t get to own a slot or a linear space out in the real world. You have to modify and control your movement to account for the natural entropy of other moving bodies.
I guess I just like the interplay between these two concepts: Limiting my dance to a set of rules or, letting it go free vs. living a daily life that involves work, social interaction, the internet, chores and bills or, ensconcing myself away from the network that I have come to rely on. Both build different skills and appreciation for different states of being.
Post Script: If you thought this post was about, Off Grid Blues, sorry to have tricked you! This name also belongs to an event that I’ve been fortunate to be part of. It’s a week end workshop at a truly “off the grid” eco-village in Northeastern Missouri. We’re doing it again next year. If you missed out on registration this year, be sure to mark your calendar. We sold out rather quickly last year!
