Dance has always been apart of my life. It has brought me a lot of joy and a lot of sorrow. I would say that is a normal thing that comes with passion. There is a lot of good and a lot of bad. Sometimes though, it can bring you on a rollercoaster that you don’t see expected to come off of. That is my relationship with dance. It is very difficult to describe. Dance is also a form of human connection. I believe dancers are some of the smartest people on earth.
Dancers have the ability of discipline, the ability to form connections, the ability to be in tune with their body and the ability to create living and breathing art. I mean that is pretty cool, you have to admit it. I believe that dance for awhile was seen as my only personality. And it may be still be but I don’t see it that way. When traveling to Italy, we are attending the DAP Festival. The Dap Festival is a festival that doesn’t just celebrate dance, but it celebrates art itself. SO, that could mean sculptures, art pieces, dance, singing, acting anything in the genre you could think of. Something that has interested me so far of being here for two days is the difference and fire behind the beauty I watch.
There is a different passion behind the artists eyes I see here. It’s refreshing and honestly sets my soul on fire to stay watching. I love it. In America, there is always talk of “dancers aren’t like they used to be” or “this generation is lazy.” Which yes, I agree in ways but I also disagree. I think maybe it is something that the dancers in America just can’t figure it out or they think they have it figured out. In Italy, this festival is made up of dancers all around the world. Artists are brought in to teach and to offer what they have so that students may bring that fire back to where they are. Something I notice that is a huge difference is the artistry.
Artistry is a difficult word. You read it and are like oh that means performance or oh that means the movement. But it is SO much more! Artistry is the creative mind and body connection. That is my own definition. When I was a freshmen in college, I always got scored low on my artistry and would get frustrated. It is because I may have been performing and I may have been moving, but I didn’t connect the two things together. The artistry in Italy is on fire. Everything about this tiny town and venue, was full of artistry. My chaperone and I kept saying “We should transform Malone into this.”
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Watching the dancers, you can just see the mind and body connection. I honestly have never seen anything like it. I am entranced watching these artists. They do it because they love it and it is seen. The first night of the festival, it was raining. The dancer performing continued to perform in the rain and I remember feeling like I was experiencing dance all over again. The piece wasn’t emotional but I was brought to tears by the image of the rain, the beauty of the dancer and their performance. Her hair was so long and her moving in the rain with water flinging around everywhere, it was almost an out of body experience.
Dance brings joy to people. I hear so many people say that they wished they danced growing up. Dance has helped me understand the world in a different perspective. I am thankful for this and I am thankful that I got to experience the art, even from night one. It was perfect to me. I am thankful and feel alive in dance, again. I am happy that dance and art are appreciated so much in Italy. I wish we could bring that back to America.