Conference of Dance Departments of Elementary Art Schools, Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU), 2020

When I received the invitation to take part in this conference, I watched — I believe quite thoroughly — the previous online discussions. It struck me that from several contributions it appears that, despite all the written (even the “official” ones) texts, the lectures delivered, and the practical workshops held, it is still not entirely clear WHAT is, or should be, the subject of dance education in Elementary Art Schools, and ultimately in Elementary Schools as well. After all, we are speaking about the very same children, of the same age. The essential difference lies in different demands, not in the programme.

Let us leave secondary and higher education, that is professional training, aside for now.

Our task is education whose main goal is the development of the whole child, with everything that this entails, because only a cultivated and self-reliant individual can be the foundation of a cultivated civil society. Additionally, it also involves identifying gifted children for professional training—but those are merely individuals.

Since the survey shows that 61% of respondents wish to define dance techniques and 38% need clarification of the term “dance art”, I would like to address this and be very concrete.

I will also refer to another survey, one that a student of ours asked me to complete. It will allow me to be very specific.

Some time ago (about two years), I received a questionnaire from one of our students. Its title was “What is the difference between dance and movement?” I answered, and I would like to share my answers with you, because they relate to the topic I have been asked to speak about.

QUESTION 1: What is dance for you?

The first thing that comes to your mind.

MY ANSWER: Under certain conditions, dance is one of the possibilities that could help lift human society a little out of the mire in which it currently finds itself.

More deeply developed.

ANSWER: Dance is a fundamental, unique artistic discipline. Other arts like to “borrow” from it. It is born from the body, the bearer of life. Therefore, dance has the capacity to create in a person a solid foundation on which one can build. This is the main reason why dance should not remain outside society’s attention—especially the attention of educators, doctors, psychologists, politicians… To a certain degree it is accessible to everyone and brings irreplaceable values that deserve our focus.

Its major problem is that those who have not experienced it—who do not have personal practical experience with it—cannot fully understand it.

— A parenthetical remark: This is because it requires revealing oneself, stepping out of one’s comfort zone, taking off the jacket, loosening the tie, removing the shoes, and entering an unfamiliar community…

Dance is an artistic activity that springs from within and speaks through the body of each unique person — by its very nature it brings unity to the human being. Its foundation is the cultivation and rediscovery of the natural laws of the human body’s functioning in the sense of its physical and mental unity, because it connects motor skills, thinking, will, emotionality, and human spirituality. What more could we wish for? It thus anticipates the fundamental importance of dance for educating an artist, but above all, for educating a human being.

THEREFORE, BE CAREFUL!

From the above it follows that the dance we are speaking about — the dance that can meet the demands of education and fulfil the expected goals — cannot be considered to be anything that moves rhythmically to any rhythmic music, nor formations such as majorettes, or Hip Hop and similar street activities. They simply do not meet the criteria; they belong to a different sphere — the sphere of entertainment, show, business. This widespread inability to distinguish greatly distorts the image of dance as an artistic discipline.

But dance that is based on natural principles:

harmonises physical and psychological development
prevents physical and mental disharmony
leads to self-knowledge and authenticity
awakens and develops imagination and creativity
increases demands on physical activity, teaches a positive relationship to physical work
brings natural joy, motivates positively
by its nature teaches community and sharing
leads to deep emotional experiences
teaches healthy self-confidence
brings the ability to empathise — and not only with people
brings bodily intelligence

—and we could continue…

QUESTION 2: What is movement for you?

ANSWER: The expression of any form of life (a flower, a worm, a tree, a bird, for instance).

QUESTION 3: What is the difference between dance and movement?

The first thing that comes to mind.

ANSWER: Fundamental.

More deeply.

ANSWER: Movement is movement, dance is dance. Movement is therefore not yet dance.

A note is a note, music is music. A note is therefore not yet music. A line is a line; a drawing is a drawing. A line is therefore not a drawing. A brick is not yet architecture.

Under certain conditions, however, even a line can become a drawing (Paul Klee’s line, for example). Movement can become dance; a note can become music. The mysterious condition is that a spark of spirituality jumps across — a miracle occurs — and, for example, a dancer penetrates through his or her inner intensity into another dimension of perception, begins to radiate, to give. This may then transfer to the viewer (if there is one). But that is not the point; from a psychological perspective it is not essential.

QUESTION 4: Consider whether you can recognise the difference between dance and movement in creation.

ANSWER: I reflected on it, and I can assert with certainty that I can.

When you created / are creating yourself, were you aware that you were creating dance or movement?

ANSWER: When I create, I often seek the movement that fulfils my idea of the final expression, meaning, mood, significance… For creation, it seems ideal not to think about

a suitable, attractive, interesting movement, but to discover the vocabulary of forms through a plunge into improvisation. This vocabulary is usually that which has already emerged from the content. And that is a class difference. I place conscious thinking only at the very end of the creative process.

Performance. Can you tell when it is dance and when it is movement? Provide an example of a performance or a particular moment. You may list several.

ANSWER: I believe I can recognise it precisely. Very often performances consist of both. Strong dance sections or individual dance achievements alternate with fillers made of assembled and invented movements (often very clever or humorous—even in Czech we call this “padding”). This may result from a lack of ideas, the need to extend the duration, but also simply from the inability to distinguish the difference.

Dance, experience, artistry.

Example 1. Last year’s (2017) performance by the Continuo ensemble, titled In the Circle. An intense two-hour experience with no lapses and no padding. Incredible commitment and harmony of the whole group of about 30 people — dance, singing, music, words… everyone doing everything… all live… wonderful, current. Beauty in ugliness, cruelty, and hope.

Example 2. Kristýna Boková, who in my course this year (2018), through the power of her inner intensity, crossed from assigned movement into the dimension of dance. During a simple movement while sitting on the floor, she began to radiate with such intensity that she spontaneously drew the attention of all 20 others. They stopped working and, whether they wanted to or not, watched her as if enchanted. A miracle named Dance was born.

A request to conclude — let us be mindful of what we devote ourselves to; it leaves an imprint within us. Let us be self-aware citizens. Our children absorb this from us. There are already too many un-aware consumers without ideas.

If we do not manage it today, tomorrow morning we still have the chance to steer this country away from lies, hatred, fraud, and arrogance toward a functioning civil society and human dignity.

Thank you for your attention.

Eva Blažíčková, National Conference for Teachers of Elementary Art Schools, held at Academy of Performing Arts (HAMU), 2020