HALEY REINDL

The life of a dancer is a very long, weaving tapestry of interconnected discoveries. Each through-line doubles back again and again to touch the beginning: looping around, shooting forward, arcing up and dipping down. Dance is a great tangled mass of revelations that somehow creates a most imperfect and beautiful picture.

What is it that I have discovered in this art form that seems to expand exponentially every time I begin to grasp even one part of it? Dance exists in the transitions. We are always working for a higher leg, more pirouettes, loftier jumps…but what sets us apart from each other is the artistry and intentionality of our transitions. It is easy to view every season of life as a transition instead of living contentedly. But nothing can be chosen before it happens. There is only now. It is no wonder that the transitional steps in dance are the most riveting.

Dancing is about life. It is human; it has weight and impact and raw honesty behind it. The formation of connections is a courageous embodiment of opening and releasing and sharing. Community manifests itself in a preservation of the past and welcoming of the future. While being asked to develop new and creative ways of moving, we preserve the integrity of what our ancestors have done before us.

Ecstasy exists in the resilience of the struggle, for without it there would be no need for dance; we learn to find solace in the journey and not the unreachable destination. Dance is in the moments inside of our own bodies when we reach for the unattainable, for flight, and though our wingless bodies remains fettered to the earth, we stretch all the same.