1. Taylor Quinn, Assigned Reading, Dace and Motion, 1/30/11

Taylor Quinn, Assigned Reading, Dace and Motion, 1/30/11

Van Der Leeus writes in his book Sacred and Profane Beauty that Dane is one of the most powerful forms of art. It is the most basic and that it came before all other arts. “The art of beautiful motion is far and away the oldest”. Art has a transforming quality for us. It facilitates a changed within us to recognize something different. This movement and motion in dance can bring us into a different state of mind. We watched a video of different cultures doing different forms of dancing. We say people jumping up and down and we saw people simply spinning in a circle. They were in a trance like state while staying in continuous motion.

I totally understand the feeling of motion as art in my life. I have been practicing the martial art for over 7 years now. In high school I used to compete in tournaments. There I would perform a form in front of judges and they would rate me on how well I did. I would spend hours practicing the same form over and over again. After your body is spent from continuous repetition, you are able to enter into a different state of mind. You simply just flow after a while, connecting to something deep within you. You become aware of nothing else around you. When I would perform for the judges everything would slow down and I felt as if I were the only one in the room. The “dance” connected me to a different place.