Are we Human (Or Are we Dancers? Can't we be both?)

Today, let us discuss dance.

Classically, I have associated dance with...well classical dance:

Or maybe this

But, on May 28, I was privileged enough to see Artlab J's gala event at the Detroit Institue of the Arts.

It was an amazing evening filled with dance and wonder and surprises.
One of the biggest was the education programs coming out to dance.
See, I have this bias.
I think dancers look like this:

Young, virile, people who are able to control every aspect of their body.
And that is definitely SOME dancers.

The educational program dealt with non-traditional or learning dancers.
So there were dancers that looked like this:

Kids. They were effectively children. But, they were dancing!
Dare I say dancers?

Perhaps the most moving piece of the night was the elderly women's education program.
Dancers that looked like this:

It was amazingly difficult to find an image for dancers of this age group.

Not surprising, but deeply frustrating.
For you see, that is what was so incredible about this age group in particular.
The women, aged 30-70+ were dancing!
Dancing together exploring themes like growing old, their bodies changing, embracing their ability to still move even as they wore down over the course of their lives and the performance.

I would say it was the most moving piece of the night.
And in that moment I realized one of our biggest problems with the art.
One of the most pervasive quotes I have run across with regards to acting:

"It takes twenty years to become an actor [/artist]"

-Stanislavki/Meisner/Everyone

I have been debating what exactly this means.
I'm still unsure.
But, I know it has created an expectation in me that actors are not young.
I know that.
And dancers mean ballet, which means they cannot be old.
SO art happens in this weird middle place in life where you are old enough to have skill and technique and young enough to still make the best art.

These women and this particular dance completely shattered that expectation.
Because what they were doing was undoubtedly art.
It may not have been the most physically deft dance.
It may not have been the most polished piece of the night.
But, it was profound all the same because it was difficult, because they were struggling with something, grappling with ideas bigger than themselves, and in territory that was absolutely relevant to their and our experience right then right there.
It was incredible.

And it sent me off down this reverie

Questions for Art (I mean that literally)

• Are young children artists even though they don't know better?
• Is art only a craft, meaning a created event?
• How old/trained must you be in order to create that art?
• If it is true and children are artists and we grow out of it, can we grow back into it?
• When is art art?
• How do we determine what/when is art?