Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me. It is an uncomfortable doctrine which the true ethics whisper into my ear. You are happy, they say; therefore you are called upon to give much.”
– Albert Schweitzer
I came upon this quote recently and it kept popping back into my mind when I thought about dance. We are part of something larger than ourselves when it comes to what we can share through movement, and this is what makes every single person who is involved in the field important. Not just the people who are at the top, dancing at the best companies…but those who share the love–the happiness that they get through dance with another…even in the smallest ways. Music and movement have the tremendous power to heal, to connect and to ease pain. I have seen it when I worked with physically and mentally challenged children, and I have seen it on the faces of those who are far older than I in class….
If you have found your calling through dance in some way, you know the happiness that this quote speaks of. It is really something if you can share that feeling with someone who has never experienced it before. If you have never tried it, there’s no time like the present. There are many things you can do with your talents that will give another a little bit of that joy. I look for them wherever I can…
