Ah. the plight of every teribbly-misunderstood young person. To listen or to contribute?

In June Sherry and I attended the International Conference for Teaching Somatics Based Dance Technique, (wow, what a mouthful!) and I realized that since the end of school, in just a few short weeks, without a studio to move in, or an interesting environment to explore, I had forgotten what it felt like to ‘do’ somatics and to ‘think’ somatics, and to ‘talk’ somatics with others. As the presentations started up, I sunk into a sense of belonging… almost. From the very first day it became inescapably apparent to me that I was the youngest attendee, the baby. So what is the place for an undergraduate at a conference like this? What is our role? Are we solely to listen and absorb? or are we here to share?

It feels uncomfortable to accept that we are clean slates that know nothing and are ready to absorb everything the al-mighty wise adult presenters have to teach us, because we aren’t. I am 21 years old and have 7670 days, or 184080 hours of unique experience under my belt that has built who I am. There’s gotta be something in there that those presenters haven’t thought about. But it also feels too naive to excuse myself with “as a young person I offer something ‘fresh.'” What does “fresh” mean anyway? A new perspective? A new spin on already-introduced material? or a completely unprecedented idea? Those are certainly hard to come by these days. What I realized is not necessarily that I have something to add, but that different aspects of this somatic work are important to me than to others, and that each person has something he or she’d like to emphasize. 

To be honest I’m not sure if any idea I heard at the conference was completely new and unprecedented, but everyone had something different that brings them meaning within somatic work. Several presenters stressed the importance of avoiding self-judgement in class, in practice, and in choreography. Some addressed the relevance of somatic work in different kinds of technique classes: ballet, modern, improvisation, even business classes. For others, somatics has been a powerful route for psycho/physical/emotional healing. For me, right now, I keep pressing on about valuing the subjective nature of experience. My experience is mine, and it is every bit as valid and as real and as truthful as everyone else’s. It is likely that this aspect of somatic philosophy and practice is so important to me BECAUSE I am so young, and you bet i’ll grab onto anything that validates my non-expertise.

So what is the role of an undergraduate at a conference like this? As far as I can see its the same as everyone else’s. Share and Listen. Find the thing that means the most to you and share it with everyone you can, and listen to everyone else’s most-important-thing too.

-Julia