Like the Agon pas de deux traditionally is always cast with a black man and a white woman… and I’m just like “No! There’s so much more that could happen there!” We need to stop making it about tradition. It could explore gender roles, and race and so much more. I think ballet could go so much deeper than that. That’s a constructed idea of what “perfect” is. Everything is binary, everything looks a certain way-but that’s not real, that’s not realistic. I think specifically in ballet companies there is this fantasy of perfection. I talk about how it’s reflecting humanity, but especially specifically in ballet we’re so far behind in how equal we all are. What do you think is missing from the dance world as a whole right now? That’s why I think it’s necessary for us as humans. Because we take this natural slouch and frown and we take it deeper. But we put it on the stage, and we take time, and we appreciate it, and I think that’s why dance is necessary-because we take the time to reflect on life and natural human processes and emotions… on a deeper level. We all can make a face, and frown, and you know, release our shoulders and just sit there-but, we never take time to appreciate it or declare “this art”, declare “ this” as art. We need to take time and reflect and look back and experience humanity on the stage as REALness, and like real people, real time.
That is dance, that is movement, that is art, and it’s so necessary, because we take our natural humanity and we put it on the stage, to observe, and reflect, and take a moment and connect as humans again. Dance is one of the few languages that we all do, with natural body language. I can tell you I’m sad, but I think there’s deeper communication, just as humans as we connect soul to soul. Why do you think dance is necessary? For yourself, but also for our community and our culture?īecause, not everything can be said with words.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET ASHTON EDWARDS SKIN
What you are as a being, and not just as skin and bones-that’s why I like to dance, because I feel the most myself. I grew up religious, and in church we talked about our soul and how it’s connected to heaven… but I didn’t really understand until I started dancing and getting lost in the movement. It’s a connection to the depths of our soul. It’s indescribable the feeling I have when I’m dancing. I like to dance, because it feels natural.
I love to dance, because I make people happy, and that makes me happier than I could ever be. I love to dance because I can’t survive without it.
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