All my life I have - I was going to say nurtured, but nurtured is quite what I have not done - harboured an interest in dance. As I say, this interest has not been nurtured. It has been ignored, suppressed, neglected... But somehow, for some reason, in 2008 - it broke out. I'm obsessed and enjoying it.
I'm fortunate that I live in Manchester, a city that is reasonably blessed with theatres, concert venues and other performance spaces. I have always gone to the theatre, fairly occasionally to concerts, whether rock and pop or classical, very occasionally to the opera, but I'm only now discovering something that I think I knew on a subconscious level all along - that I like dance best; that there is something compelling about watching dance and that sometimes it can be deeply emotionally satisfying.
Since 2008 I have seen around 30 ballet, dance and physical theatre productions a year. I'm now in the fortunate positions of there being many companies I have yet to see, while starting to see other companies for the second, third or more times. There is much to learn and much to enjoy, although not everything is as enjoyable as one might hope.
Unfortunately, since 2010 politics and economics have resulted in what seems an unprecedented attack on the arts in the UK generally. The days of capital expenditure on the arts seem temporarily at an end. Arts budget have been slashed - not only by the national government to national agencies such as Arts Council England, but locally, some councils and boroughs have gone so far as to cancel all arts funding. The eventual impact on the worlds of dance have yet to become manifest. Interesting and worrying times.
So that's what Methods of Dance is about. Sharing an interest that few of my few friends share. An outlet, a point of focus for one the most wonderful parts of our culture - one that embraces a rich heritage as much as it continually evolves. And, satisfying for me personally, one that is very much part of my gay heritage - an art form that has always been about expressing that which cannot - could not - easily be spoken.
Posts
