PERSONAL DANCE TREATISE

Madelyn Crook
Department of Dance
DANCE 261
April 10, 2017
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PERSONAL DANCE TREATISE

Dance isnt just an art form or a way to entertain, it is a way of life. One doesnt simply

decide they want to be a dancer and do it in one day. It is a lifelong journey of passion and will,

which leads up to the creation of beautiful works of both art and entertainment. Dancing is a gift

given by God, it requires diligence and creates character, it has influenced cultures around the

world for centuries, it brings clarity in the problems of life, and it is the most natural medium to

display art.

I believe dance is a gift given to us by our Heavenly Father as a means to express our

feelings in a manner that no other medium can allow. Although many people have not had the

opportunity to experience dance in a professional setting, dance comes naturally to mostly

everybody. Some of a babys first instincts are to dance to music when it is played. Therefore,

dancing is an instinct that comes naturally when there is music, and sometimes, even when there

isnt any. As dancers, we should have the main purpose of our dancing to be to glorify God and

show our thanks for the great gift we have been given.

Everybody has the potential to be a dancer if they have the passion and willpower to

practice and receive the training that is necessary to do so. Dancing is hard. The rigorous

training that dance requires has taught me many life lessons, including that of persistence when

things get so hard that you want to quit. There have been many times throughout my dancing

career that I have felt like giving up or quitting because it seemed too hard, but I stuck with it,

and from that I have learned that I can do hard things. As a member of the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), it is difficult to be a part of the dance world and keep good

standards. The perseverance I have gained to live up to the standards I set for myself has also

made me a stronger person and improved my character.

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While I am untrained and inexperienced compared to the professionals in the dance

world, I still have the same passion for dance that was instilled in me when I was very young. I

recently came across a short book I wrote in the sixth grade including information about me,

including my hobbies and interests. I had listed something about my love for dance on the

majority of the pages. One of the most wonderful things about dance, is that it gives young

children something to love and invest their time and energy toward. Many kids today rarely do

anything active that requires even getting up off the couch. For me, dance has been a way that I

can be active, while being social and having fun.

Dance has played a very important role in the formation of many cultures throughout the

world. In the developing cultures throughout the world, dance was a significant way that people

could express themselves, and in many cultures, it was a way that people used to show their

appreciation to God for their many blessings. Dance was used as a means of worship, as a way

of expressing or reinforcing tribal unity and strengthas a means of communication, and as a

therapeutic or healing experience.1 The types of dance we know today are rooted in and were

created from these cultural dances; we wouldnt have dance if it werent for these people in the

primitive cultures where dance originated.

In the past, I have received some criticism about pursuing a dance degree in college.

Once, somebody told me that I should pursue a degree in engineering, instead of dance. One of

1
Karl E. Wesson Dance in the Church of Jesus Christy of Latter-Day Saints 1830-1940 All

Theses and Dissertations. Paper 5205 (1975): 11.

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the definitions of engineering is the action of working artfully to bring something about2 and

Kinesiology is the study of the body. So by definition, dancers are kinesthetic engineers. We

are constantly finding new ways to artfully move the body to bring something about. Dance

includes critical thinking as well as feeling and expressing the way that the body wants, and

needs to move. People who are not dancers cannot understand the process that goes into creating

dance. Kinesthetic engineering (dancing) is just as important as any other discipline of

engineering, and it should be treated as such.

In order to fully understand the things of the world, we must consult many different

resources. When writing about this topic, Terryl Givens said, we will need all our resources,

including those of art, of our moral sense, and of love.3 Dance is an art form, it exhibits (and

requires) love, but it also requires moral sense, or reason to create and interpret dance on a

deeper level. Dance creates feelings in audience members, as well as dancers that cannot be

duplicated in any other way. Through dance, people can receive insights that will help them to

understand the things of life in a clearer way.

Dance is the only artform that doesnt require a tangible medium outside of the body

itself. To make music, a musician needs an instrument. To paint, an artist needs a paintbrush,

paint, and a canvas. In order to dance, we only need the body; our body is the paint, our soul is

the paintbrush, and the world is our canvas.

2
Janine E. Mooney, Engineering: A Way of Life ECN, last modified September 13, 2016,
https://www.ecnmag.com/blog/2016/09/engineering-way-life.

3
Terryl Givens, The Crucible of Doubt (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2014), 24.
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Dance is a blessing and a gift. It is an outlet that creates character in people by requiring

diligence. It has been a great influence to hundreds of cultures throughout the world. The study

of dance leads to critical thinking and analysis that lends itself to answering the questions of life.

Dance is an art form, given to us by God, so we can bring joy to the lives of everyone on the

earth.
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Bibliography

Givens, Terryl. The Crucible of Doubt. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2014.

Janine E. Mooney. Engineering: A Way of Life ECN. Last modified September 13, 2016.

https://www.ecnmag.com/blog/2016/09/engineering-way-life

Wesson, Karl E. Dance in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 1830-1940 All

Theses and Dissertations. Paper 5205 (1975) : 11.