ChoreoNotes
Thoughts on the New Year

By Letty Bassart

As the year comes to an end, contemplation, reflection, and future plans are in the forefront of our minds—at least in the days between December 25 and January 1.  Have we been our best selves? What will we do differently or better?  What will we make time for?  This year, as an artist and New Year’s baby, the age old question of conformity is exponentially evoked.

The work of choreographer Pina Bausch

At times, overwhelmed by our virtual existence, need for classification, and careful use of words in contracts, I often refer to “F2” on my Excel spreadsheet as the new bell jar. 

The stratospheres of categorization extend far beyond the Dewey Decimal System, we are no longer right-brained or left-brained. Rather, we have more or less of a specific type of intelligence, musical, kinesthetic and so on. 

I come from a generation of women whose mothers insisted they not have children until their careers are in place, the generation most informed by HIV and its implications; safer sex crucial to life.  In this funny gap, many have everything, sort of: ambitious careers, plastic surgery, babies, etc.   The outcomes are yet to be seen. 

That aside, I am thankful to David Hudak, my tenth grade English teacher for making non-conformity an official part of my vocabulary.  In his classroom, a larger than life poster of Tina Turner in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome hung on the wall and the word ‘quixotic’ was explored in great detail.

My friend, the cowboy-like Steve Wenger, refers to settlers as “40-hour ham and eggers.”

This year I have been fortunate enough to sit at the table with many, non-ham and eggers; being a part of this movement continues to be exhilarating.  It takes many forms---behind the computer, at the conference table, in the dance studio, the audience, and with friends and family.   An incredible highlight was the opportunity to see Pina Bausch’s Néfes last weekend.

As I stood in awe of this slight-figured woman, who is credited with the transformation of dance theatre, take the stage, I understood what I have always known, that to be a non-conformist is to not settle for anything less than the most excellent in ourselves and in our vision.  As the New Year prepares to roll in, I hold this as the only standard and am filled with abundant gratitude for those who surround me in my personal and professional life.