group discipline and individual excellence

 

the freedom of set choreography

I am intrigued by the freedom

that a set choreography can give,

middle schoolers who fear to assert individuality on stage

fit into the given movement and given song

with focused abandon, excelling in the whole,

since they know exactly how to do the part,

and then, when it is time to improvise,

they can feel a disciplined freedom to be their selves,

how ironic that group discipline enables individual excellence,

I often push the kids to over-act their individual part,

to work to get the audience to notice their individuality

for then the whole shines brighter,

acting as if self-centered

allows the larger self to shine brighter,

because each part is bright;,

the whole can blaze

truer to its potential.

by Henry H. Walker

February 18, ‘22