Guest post by Jonathon Levy
Jonathon Levy is a former principal dancer in the USA, and Ballet master both overseas and in the USA. He has owned his own studio, and works in the field training young aspirant dancers. When he owned his school, his company was the subject for a thesis on Business management (BS in BusAdmin/NfP), following the Schein organizational ideology for corporate development and internal-culture. http://www.ballettrainingcentre.com The following post was originally submitted by Jonathon as a reply on my Research Purpose page.
I will have to do this in a few stages… for me motivation becomes a “cliché” – I was on-tour one year dancing in a small company that was trying to use touring as a way of building a base audience regionally… we got to one place where there had been some snafu’s regrading our performance times, and to make up for it the local news station came and did interviews with a few of us at the theatre in an attempt to get ticket info out to the public. The question I was asked was “Do you make adjustments if there are smaller audiences? and I said, ‘I don’t, this is what I do, I’m a dancer, I would do this whether the audience shows up or not.”
I pursued the “to be a dancer” idea after I got some positive feedback from girls in high school, yet then after about four months and going to a real summer intensive program, a real ballerina and a principal male dancer looked at me and said: “do you want this as your career?” I didn’t think about it, I just said “how?” – That was the moment I “made the decision” to become a professional dancer. I think I was still trying to ‘become a professional dancer’ when I retired twenty years later as a principal dancer (and Guest Artist) from what was considered one of the top 15 or 20 companies in the USA.
For me motivation was never the idea, or should I say the idea of motivating myself was never an issue… I made the decision and I just never stopped confronting myself with the fact that I made the decision, there was nothing else – I didn’t have a supportive family, I didn’t have any “safety-net” – in a very real way it was all I had so I just figured I had to do it… so I did.
I will try to write more later… I’m now a ballet master, and I have found a lot of compassion for those who feel driven…
Edit December 24 2012: Jonathon continues this discussion in a comment below from “The Training Centre For Artistic Endeavors Unlimited”
Jonathon makes an interesting observation when he says “the idea of motivating myself was never an issue”. I suspect many professional dancers do not consciously think much about motivation. However, I would argue that motivation affects all of us, we just don’t think about it much. It is often only when something is going wrong that we may realise that a conscious change in motivation may be what is required to “get back on track”. The fact that dancers do not think about motivation is what makes this research interesting for me.
[...] “This is what I do, I’m a dancer” by Jonathon Levy (mikebarnesanth.wordpress.com) [...]
I tell my students that anything worth doing is worth doing well. I also tell them it is my job to teach them and their job to motivate themselves to learn.
Dance is way too difficult technically and as an occupation to commit yourself to if someone else had to motivate you.
One sad fact is that often a dance student with a lot of talent and natural ability is not very motivated while one with less natural facility is passionate about becoming a dancer.
See more responses on Teachers of Classical Ballet LinkedIn group http://lnkd.in/uVhHt7
Continuing with “This is what I do, I’m a dancer.”
I will disagree with you about “not thinking about motivation” – I always thought about motivation, just not a something outside of my self. Motivation for me was, and still is, not an “exercise” like going to a seminar, getting ‘pumped-up.’ That’s what I meant when I said it was “clich.” Motivation as I have always comprehended it was based singularly on my motive. My purpose, was to dance and now it is teaching, and choreographing, and elevating the Art form beyond acro-gymnasty-dance… lol… I can simply say that motivation for me was exemplified by my father, a Holocaust Survivor, suffice it to say I never knew him to “be bored” or have “nothing to do” because even doing “nothing” was a monumental event with incredible consequence, potential, and actuality. I was 8 yrs old when my father passed. I was classically educated up till then, and so I just understood the idea that ignorance was not acceptable, and that competency was more important than “fitting in.” The idea of “motivation” for me was answered for me when my father passed on in this way: life has deeper meaning than just what you see, and I (we) are responsible for passing on that idea. When I reached my early teens and discovered that no-one really listened to me, I sought-out other ways of communicating – there was my Bar Mitzvah, and then trying sports, yet I was too aware of whatever it was in life that was more than “just winning” so I began playing instruments, first percussion, then woodwinds, then low brass. This musical connection started something, yet it was movement that was my form for communicating. I understood this very early, I think I was 5 or 6 when my father took me to see both the Moiseyev Company, and Nureyev for what I believe was their only Chicago appearances ever. I had no idea who I saw until I was a young adult, however that small glimpse was something that just slow boiled its way to the top. Had my father not died shortly after that I might have never become an artistic performer. It was obvious to me in my first ballet class that this Art was very different, than all other art I had experienced. The discipline, the focus, the fact that it was about me, what I wanted to say would have to wait until I could competently and proficiently execute the vocabulary, the technique became my vehicle for real discussion, true communication, and my sense of being connected to what was “mysterious in life” was finally a fact of obvious relevance to me… I was slightly past my 16th birthday – and (like Nureyev, as I learned later in life) I entered a true professional training school just days after my 17th birthday with a teacher who thought I was a waste of his time because I was “so old.” However that just motivated me more, not in the idea that I needed to be motivated, yet it solidified my conscience and even my sub-conscience effort towards accomplishing what I had set out to do, become a professional classical ballet dancer. The concept of “purpose” within one’s “identity” is what most either miss-understand, or they do not connect with it in a functional manner that propels them forward. Sometimes I think people assume that they will just wake up and “desire to be or do something” yet I never had that illusion. My father saw to it that I understood that everything was an actual decision, he used to say I had the ability to respond, and that was the thing that would help me become a man, and I would know what I needed and wanted to do because I could decided to do it, and that when I made that decision I would need to follow through until I completed the “job” (or purpose) that I was here for… I remember that short dialogue from him so well, because it was the last actual interaction I had with him before he went into the hospital where he passed from Hodgkin’s disease about three months later. The fact that “real life” was apparent to me at such a young age, dealing with death, didn’t really sink in until I hit my teens and I realized that knowing my dad had survived the Nazis and the Soviets was even more impacting upon what I remembered of his little verbal lessons. He was a work-aholic, almost never home, yet when he was, and I had time in his presence it was intense, he paid attention to each of us kids (I was the 7th of 9 kids). The focus of his intent was a passion for living that was exciting, intimidating, scary, and thoroughly intoxicating because everything was of interest to him. This passion just bleed into my mind and was released into my dancing. I never had a question of “motivation” because my motive was to become a dancer. I honestly believe it would be the same in anything I chose to do. In fact I know it is, because I have done more than just dance. I became a professional chef, I wrote a children’s story (both for my son, yet also because its a tradition in Judaism that to be a success in life a man should accomplish three things in addition to studying Torah; that is 1) learn a trade/business, 2) write a book, and 3) raise a child… in addition to studying the Torah. I went to yeshiva, and I’ve now accomplished the other three… so from this point on it is more about giving away what I know so I can see my purpose fulfilled in the sense of doing everything I can and what I can’t do is for the next generation. We have an idea called “tikkun olam” – it sort of means repairing or reconfiguring the world, setting thing right by accomplishing things the way they should be done. If that’s not a motivating idea for then what is? As a professional dancer I thought I was suppose to learn how to communicate the passion of living life to everyone… as a teacher, I’m trying to enable kids to develop the skill that will allow them that privilege – expressing the deeper meaning of being human and living life in this place called “now.” Thank you.
Thank you Jonathon for your follow-on discussion and sharing your thoughts with us.
Very inspiring, moving and honest. What you write creates change in others. Thank you Jonathan.
@ Jonathan: You’re father passed so much on to you in such a short time, but it really was quality time. He sowed a seed that is now a blooming flower and you are an inspiration. I understand you, and how powerful the words of our parents are when they are alive and then how their death just makes their voices come alive in us more. Its like that dim light of past words they’ve said, just suddenly unconsciously becomes bright and with its own momentum evolves in us. Passion will always touch your children. What a beautiful piece about a father handing down gems of wisdom to a child. You are also a witness to a survivor like your dad, a survivor of a terrible evil that could break a soul and generations after but it didn’t. If you express yourself this well on paper I’m sure you were a joy to watch as a dancer. You have alot to dance for. This Heartbreaking and inspirational piece confirms what I’ve always believed. That even when kids love/hate what they are hearing from parents or disagree because they are teenagers and think they know everything, that seed you fight to sew as a parent will bloom one day, hopefully before we die. Your dad is looking down on you reading this and proud. Now go keep making dancers that will make a difference. xoxo
Can one do a dance residency with you? I find your personal history an important learning tool to inform ones dance practice. Well mine in particular…I grew up so involved in dance projects as a hobby. And in my 30s i decided to become moreprofessional. That is to participate and create on paid scale. But it has been very hard. I am in my 40s now and still desire to continue whether it is goingto be lucrative or not. This is what i do.