Most of my friends and readers know I used to dance.
When I think about the moments when I truly felt happy, it was when I was dancing. Sure, I loved the lights on stage, but my favorite memory of being in a performing division was during the super-long rehearsals when my best friend and I would leap down the stairs at the back of the theater. It was so freeing. We were flying. We were alive.
The flip side of dance is something a bit uglier. Black Swan took it a bit far, but the new Lifetime series Dance Moms is - alas - spot on. Sure, they've done some editing so that studio owner Abby Lee looks more vicious than she probably truly is, and to make the moms seem a bit more unstable and catty, but really, it is the truth.
I can absolutely see my old dance director saying and doing the same things as Abby Lee. Perfection was expected. Perfection was the rule, not the exception. My director would have allowed a sick dancer to vomit in peace (providing that she wasn't faking it) but otherwise, most of what Abby Lee has said and done is exactly what my director would have done. And yes, the moms were competitive, but no matter the sport, school, or activity, there will be "those moms."
I learned a lot from the world of dance, especially about responsibility and organization. Yeah, it was hurtful to be told my improper hairstyle was the reason we lost a national title, but it was the truth (even if it was a misunderstanding.)
Not surprisingly, I also adore other things that are "close" to dance, like gymnastics, cheerleading, figure skating, and sign-language.
Wait, what?
Yes, I know that sign language is an actual language; it is not just a dance of the fingers. But it is so expressive: not only with hands, but the arms, the body, and the eyes. Eyebrows are raised here, the lips are pursed there, all accompanied by the signs themselves. Storytelling is vibrant, emotion is apparent. I love it.
And so of course I love ABC Family's Switched at Birth. I love the parts of it in ASL, and I love how some of the characters just happen to be Deaf, but are just as relatable as the hearing folks. I love how some story lines could be in any show, while others are more specific to some of the questions that arise when Deaf culture and the hearing world mix.
One of my great regrets is that I didn't learn ASL myself. It wasn't necessarily for lack of trying. I learned to fingerspell, although a friend later told me that I make my "X" incorrectly. (Or maybe it is my "Q?") I had a big picture dictionary with signs, but it is difficult to learn from photos alone (since everything is so fluid and expressive and in motion.) I took a class at the Rhode Island School for the Deaf, but I got super-nervous whenever we'd have to sign with each other. (In general, although I'm fascinated by languages, I get choked up when I have to actually use them. I prefer to listen and watch!)
These days, I'm an observer - both with dance (Dance Moms and of course So You Think You Can Dance) and also with sign (Switched at Birth), but I'm loving every moment.
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Disclaimer: None of the mentions of TV shows are sponsored. These are just the shows that I'm enjoying this summer along with fluff like Big Brother and those fabulous Gordon Ramsey cooking shows Hell's Kitchen and MasterChef. I love to have the TV on while I'm working or working out, so I swear I'm not such a couch potato. Heh.
