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 Non-Dance
Is OK, Too
By Rhee Gold
Want
to revitalize your creative spirit? Take a family vacation!
Summer.
It’s a topic that brings to mind income-generating programs
for schools and continuing-education opportunities for
teachers. But seminars and networking aren’t the only ways to
revitalize a teacher’s dance spirit and fuel those creative
juices. Another way, one that is just as important to one’s
well-being, is to step away from dance and dance-related
activities to enter the world of “normalcy” (whatever that is)
for a bit. I’m talking about a good ol’ family vacation, time
on the beach with a good book, or simply a special day with
your family.
When I was
a kid, my mom would take my brother and me to all the dance
conventions or to New York City to take classes and see
shows. Sometimes we would fly to Chicago to take class at Gus
Giordano’s school for a week. All of those experiences were
fun and exciting, and they helped to make us better at what we
do. But if you asked me which vacations I remember most, it
would be the many car trips to Arkansas to visit my
grandparents, or hanging out at the family farm in Michigan.
We went fishing, made ice cream, or just sat in the back yard
and listened to old family legends. In Arkansas we picked
cotton and in Michigan we rode horses or spent the day
mingling with chickens and cows. To us it was like heaven, and
there wasn’t one sequin or dance class involved.
For my mom,
these trips allowed her to let her hair down—literally and
figuratively. She’d be totally relaxed, fondly revisiting the
place where she came from. We all hated to go home, but
there’s no doubt about it—we returned to our dance world just
as rejuvenated as we would have been if we’d gone to a
convention or workshop.
That
doesn’t mean that dance and a “normal” vacation don’t mix now
and then. I remember one summer cross-country trip with a
final destination of California. My mother wanted a true
Americana experience, so we followed Route 66 and visited
family and the Grand Canyon. One of our stops was Las Vegas,
where we landed at the Sahara Hotel only to discover a sign
that read “Looking for new talent— register for our showcase
tomorrow evening.” Before my brother and I knew it, my mother
had registered us to perform! We went out and bought jazz
pants and a couple of derby hats, and soon we were rehearsing
“Steam Heat” in the kitchen of one of my mom’s friends. We
stayed an extra day, did our performance, and packed up the
car to finish our supposedly non-dance vacation!
I
continually run into dance teachers who tell me that
they can’t afford a family vacation, yet they somehow manage
to attend many competitions or conventions annually. I think
it’s easier to justify spending money on a trip w hen
it’s for business than when it’s for our own or our family’s
well-being. We tend to think we can’t spend money on a
frivolous vacation. (But do you really consider your mental
health frivolous?) Even worse, some teachers hesitate because
they don’t want their clientele, most of whom probably do take
an annual vacation, to know that they have the finances to
take one themselves.
As I have
said many times before, you, as a teacher, have a right to
make a living. And you have a right to offer your family the
same opportunities and life memories that your students
experience. No guilt involved. You’ve worked hard at this job
that’s really a 24-houra- day occupation. Your children and
your significant other deal with and support your passion for
the art form. So why not consider quality time with them or
simply for yourself just as valuable as a dance workshop?
If you
can’t pull off a family trip financially, then plan a week
during the summer for stay- at- home activities. Take day
trips to those museums you’ve never gone to that are only
miles from your home, or how about heading to the beach for a
barbeque? It’s all quality time with your family, and that’s
the most important part. If you’re still hesitating, think
about the day when you’re done with that teaching career and
your grown children are sitting in the back yard with you and
their children talking about their memories. Don’t you want
those to be great memories of being a family, not just a dance
family?
As a dance
teacher’s son, I guarantee you that those family memories mean
more to me than all the dance activities combined. Looking
forward to seeing you on the beach, or maybe at the Grand
Canyon!
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