ChoreoNotes
Walking

By Letty Bassart

At the age of seven, the only thing I loved more than seeing my feet clad in patent leather shoes was my pair of silver-rimmed octagon glasses.  I loved these glasses so much I would take them off to look at them.

Clearly, my nature has led me to some very impractical choices, and in my personal life, I have opted to replace these glasses with my love for human beings and a reverence for their experiences. 

It goes without saying that dance is not the world’s most practical art form. It is ephemeral and involves extensive overhead.  There have been times where this alleged inability to build something that remains has frustrated me and led me instead to the page, to the hospital, into the public health sector, and into, dare I say, non-profit leadership.  These words in sequence have the capacity to nauseate and enrage me.

Unbelievably, it just occurred to me that the word “choreography” literally means “dance-writing.”  Wikipedia explains it as the art of making structures in which movement occurs. 

This month, life took me to San Francisco, where I heard comments made about the succession crisis that is taking place as baby boomers leave the work place.  We sat at round tables and in ballroom chairs, listening to so-called leadership gurus quote Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

They say, “Hate the game, not the player.” I would be remiss not to note that I met many inspiring and exemplary human beings doing amazing things.  This is the part where I remove glasses.

I cannot help but feel incensed that American parents who have been obsessed with their children have now become CEOs obsessed with discipleship and a longing to identify the five-seven steps that lead to greatness in the work place.

Spanish poet, Antonio Machado wrote “...caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.” Walker, there is no path; the path is made by walking.

My rage fills me with an intense desire to walk, believe, and build dances, writings, organizations, and relationships with rigor, faith, and enthusiasm.