We express ourselves in many physical ways, just a few to mention are art, dance, writing and the theater. I have never been a dancer. When I was younger, my father would always tell me that I had no rhythm and couldn’t dance (he wasn’t being mean, he was simply stating the obvious). I am an artist but definitely not a dancer.
Before Mark Broomfield’s class, Doctor McCoy had told us to wear comfortable clothes that we could move around in. This caught my attention very quickly. I was hoping we weren’t going to have to do push-ups and jumping jacks. When the weekend ended and I walked into class that Monday afternoon, I was caught off guard with the idea we were going to dance. I had always loved to dance but only in private or at parties where no one would pay much attention to my horrible dancing.
At the beginning of the class, I was tense and nervous. I was scared of being judged by my peers, even though this is one of the most accepting and open-minded class I have ever been in. But once I looked around the room, I realized mostly everyone else was also nervous and shy about dancing during class time.
But Doctor Broomfield encouraged us to be more fluid and to have fun. After a while, I started to loosen up and began to enjoy myself. Then something else happened. The atmosphere changed. The classroom turned into a community, everyone was laughing and encouraging each other to dance.
During this short two-hour class period, I learned a lot about myself. I learned that sometimes you need to be uncomfortable for a little bit, but it won’t last long. You should also remember that if you are uncomfortable stepping outside of your comfort zone, there is a ninety-nine percent chance others feel the same way you do.
I also learned more about the other side of the creation process. I only have experienced the physical side of the arts versus performance-based arts. Steve Prince and Mark Broomfield both would agree art is used to express emotions & feelings that sometimes cannot be expressed otherwise. Art is a way to express what we cannot with only words. Artists use their artworks as a way of telling their stories, others stories’ or merely just creating to create whether it is physical or performance art. Each alike.