A Dancer who Writes

As any Broadway gypsy can tell you, there is a very significant difference in expectations between an audition labeled “For Dancers who Sing” and one labeled “For Singers who Dance.” If you show up for an audition for “Dancers who Sing” you darn well better be a REALLY accomplished dancer who can carry a tune respectably.  If you show up for a “Singers who Dance” audition, you best have a well-trained voice and be able to pick up musical theatre choreography.

Labels and expectations are not so clear out here in the blogosphere. That said, this blog is clearly written by a “Dancer who Writes” and not a “Writer who Dances.” Much of my life I have been suspect of words.  Before I even studied Martha Graham I bought into her tenet that “movement never lies.”  My expressive vocabulary has always been more comfortable in the silent zone of movement.  But lately I have been drawn more and more into the world of words.  For me putting, my words out there for others to read is far more terrifying than dancing in front of a huge audience. 

So right now I am going to pretend Christopher Robin was addressing me rather than Pooh when he said “You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think, ” and send this blog out into the world.

MAD and TAJ leave in ten days for the first leg of their year in the world.  I am going to do my best to write accurately and thoughtfully about our experiences.  I love author Abigail Thomas’ advice on writing memoir – “The writer of memoir makes a pack with her reader that what she writes is the truth the best she can tell it. But her original pact, the real deal, is with herself.   Be honest, dig deep or don’t bother. “ Amen to that sister.  And the final countdown to departure begins.