The Imitation Game

Last week during rehearsals I found myself in a situation all professional dancers can relate to, learning choreography off someone who has already performed it. This, accompanied by the video of said dancer, made an old habit of mine, imitation, resurrect itself. I have always struggled with comparing myself to others, and this situation was the perfect avenue for this habit to present itself. I felt that I would never look as good doing the work as the original dancer if I did it my own way, hence my mind and body wanted to imitate them. Furthermore, the fact that my predecessor had phenomenal physical facility (flat turnout, extreme flexibility etc) only inflated my feeling of inferiority. 

 

Fortunately, I managed to mentally walk out of this minefield, by reminding myself of some basic facts. Firstly, no matter how much you wish for it and how hard you push yourself, you will never dance in the same way or have the same physique as someone else. This, although it may feel like a curse, is in fact a blessing. We all have unique skill sets that cannot be replicated, and this individuality should be celebrated. Secondly, when you learn a piece off a dancer that has performed it before, you automatically have an advantage that they did not, inside knowledge and experience. The dancer teaching it to you can give you tips on certain difficult technical steps and complex counts, as well as giving you an overall explanation of what the choreographer wants from you as a performer. Finally, and somewhat cynically, in my opinion it is unrealistic to assume that the choreographer was one hundred percent satisfied with the piece the first time around, so the pedestal of perfection you have placed the previous dancer on probably doesn’t exist. 

 

But where does this reflex to imitate come from? In my opinion, a huge amount of it is due to the environment of training. I have been fortunate and unfortunate enough to study under both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ teachers. The way I separate the two is by asking whether I felt that the movement and its intention were explained clearly to me, allowing me to feel it in my body, or whether it was solely presented as mechanical with no further details. You can guess which is which. I also feel that the environment of some dance training fosters insecurity and a fear of making mistakes, hence imitation is the ‘safe’ option, which, if unchallenged, becomes a habit. An area of my practice that I am keen to work on and improve is allowing myself to make mistakes, both working alone and with others, hopefully eliminating for good ‘the imitation game’.