Dance Lesson

“I dance, therefore I AM!”

you say.
And yet,

when I watch you teach,
I feel that you “are NOT.”

Why is that, dear colleague?
What is this knot?
No, it is not “NOTHING.”

Dance training cannot be

a means to an end.
You can PRETEND not to know,

But I repeat, is this it?
Can you not smell it?
This dance class reeks
Because you are breeding

a culture of FEAR.

Here, look through this mirror

and tell me,
Is PERFECTION worth

one thousand injuries?
Two thousand?

Just to be nice, I will ask twice:
Is the PAIN a good sign of

“working hard,”
Or is it a sign for many things,
Including those INJURIES?

I know, its not pretty.

It is SAD.
It has become my duty

to tell you,
This MADNESS must end.

“I teach, therefore I am”
- BAM!
You are free to be
Conscious of how you teach

Don’t preach,

Don’t pretend that this meaningless
Repetition is somehow HEALTHY
Build new ways for PEOPLE
To SING in their bodies,

to live and to FLY

Cry, my friend
It has been a tough lesson
Now, please TRY.

2015