"Jack of all trades, master of none. With general intellect - not like a specialist's son.
Little did we know, that this Jack of all trades - played with all of his cards, from diamonds to spades."
Yes, a question heard and asked so commonly yet a question that can be so difficult to answer.
This post is a short story to my self-discovery and path to answering this question. For me, it is in regards with dance and my life.
Before I continue, I'd like to share this question with and for you to calibrate your thoughts. If by the end of this post you would like to express your answer to this question, please feel free to comment to this post and share your personal insight and experience!
That was the date everything began - the day when my life and dance truly joined together in unison.
It wasn't as simple as saying 'Dance is my Life', although it essentially was at the time - it can still be described as so, but a more accurate way to describe this 'unison' is:
"Dance became the essence to my Life."
I aimed for this post to not go too deep into details and that it shall be so. The purpose of this post is to simply share with you some of the teachings I have received as a result of this fateful meeting with dance - in the form of quotes.
See, I have a dance book, well, I have few dance books - kind of like a diary if you may subject it to objective comparison. This is where I write down (most) things that I have learnt and impacted me in some way - whether within the moment of dance, as a result of a dance class/training/rehearsal, reading a dance-related book, technicalities and medical areas of dance or dance therapy, moments spent with my dance family - or even a dance-inspired fashion sketch.
One of them is in England at the moment. I had to leave it there due to flight limitations on baggage weight. At that moment, I still remember clearly, I had to make a choice: to either take it out and ship it back to Malaysia; or leave it in England with someone - and I chose to leave it with a certain person that I trust very dearly. I simply could not trust shipping operations.
I have two here with me at the moment - one has been filled, the other is in the process of being filled up.
I hope this would bring insight and somehow inspire you on different levels and walks of life.
Best Wishes, Jing x"
***
"In the dark, poses can't be seen. Feel the morph of the movement within the space; the energy." - Teach.
"There is always support in any positioning." - Teach.
"Each time we dance, it will be different: no one time has 100% similarity in surroundings, atmosphere or energy - make each time count." - Teach.
"A cat is never indifferent to the space it is moving through. Even when it comes to jumping up on to a sofa arm that it has leapt on to a thousand times before, it still moves with care and awareness, gauging the space with a calculating eye." - Robert Cohan.
"You can liken your sense of centre to your sense of place or home. If you didn't have a strong sense of home, you would probably get lost every time you went out. You know your home. You remember it. You know your directions from it, like lines radiating out from a central point. No matter how far you may travel, your recognition and remembrance of home give you a basis for relating tot he rest of the world. Yet even though we are territorial animals, we still don't know the territory within our bodies." - Robert Cohan.
"Remember, balancing is an active state, a process that is constantly happening. If you forget to do it, you fall down." - Robert Cohan.
"Some people can learn in a minute. Some people can't grasp it at all. But if you want to change, change!" - Teach.
"There is a distinct difference between a dance being chaotic and a dance making a clear statement about chaos." - Blom & Chaplin.
"People move as they do for reasons." - Agnes de Mille.
"How do you make a dance? My answer is simple. 'Put yourself in motion'." - Twyla Tharp
"If I'm passionate about something and cannot give it up, I should work harder at it and show others I exist." - Touch of the Light
"Oscar Wilde said that if you know what you want to be, then you inevitably become it - that is your punishment, but if you never know, then you can be anything. There is a truth to that. We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing - an actor, a writer - I am a person who does things - I write, I act - and I never know what I am going to do next. I think you can be imprisoned if you think of yourself as a noun." - Stephen Fry
If I had to tell a story,
Of the greatest love, anonymously,
I'd smile and say, I'd cry and say:
"The story would probably go this way..."
"He was the brightest star above the Earth,
Yet far, far away in time and space.
When I look, I look at the past,
For only the star's illusion is what lasts."
"He was the Aurora sifting through the skies,
So surreal, magical and Heavenly divine.
In my memory, I wish it'll never fade,
For it was never Aurora's nature to remain."
"He was the dancer to my stage,
For he moved my heart without a prose.
I'd never learn what he tried to convey,
For I couldn't stay on until the curtains closed."
"The story didn't have to go this way,
But I chose to leave and walk away.
So the story, indeed, went this way.
I wonder how it'd go if I stayed?"
"I still remember: 28th June 2012, when the clock struck 12, I was on the stage dancing into my birth day. I came off that stage and I did not know what sort of happiness it was - was it even happiness? I know of happiness, but it did not felt the same - it felt like so much more."
Would you drop me if I was a glass ball? Would you touch me if I was barbed wire? Would you look this way if I was a hideous display? Would you love me if I was acquired? Would you water me if I was dormant? Would you leave me till the last? Would you travel for miles if I was an emptying tank? Would you miss me if I have passed?
Let's drown in these invisible notes,
for a moment those feelings seem translucent.
Euphoria, ethereal, utopia.
What may shine may fade,
yet may the faded still glimmer under the sliver of light.
Let's cut through these strings of thoughts,
for an eternal moment those corners become prison walls.
Paranoia, surreal, claustrophobia.
Crescendo la staccato,
decrescendo la tenuto.
When it comes to songs, 90% of the time, I will love it if I love the lyrics - even if I don't agree with the music itself. Personally, I find that the lyrics are the foundations of songs (not including Classical, DnB, Dubs, electronica - though they may have brief sections of lyrics - but those are a completely different story).
Therefore, few days ago, I've decided to select my top (and top-of-the-head) 10 most favourite lyrics that I have ever come across. You may agree, you may not - feel free to comment with your most favourite lyrics!
Afterall, I have not heard all of the many, thousands & thousands of songs out there - so it would be great to come across some beautiful songs!
This list is just a summary of the many lyrics I love - out of all the artists I've listened to, I'm pretty sure I love AT LEAST one of their songs - so don't see this list as definitive, but just a few selections! :)
I still will give you everything,
as it dismisses the uncertainty that the future is to bring.
Living the present with the flame of the past,
I will always give you everything.
I still will strive till the end of time,
for who once was then isn't mine.
Loving is patience cum virtue to prove,
that I will always strive till the end of time.
I still will love you endlessly,
as it is a present of the past futurity.
Giving and taking the chance to heal,
I will always love you endlessly.
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