My Three Favorite Things About Working With Dancers

Spectrum Prop

I have to be honest... I don't know a thing about dance.  Somewhere there are photos of eight year old Abby in a pink tutu from the only recital I was ever in.  (If I get more than two comments on this blog post, I'll find the photo and post it on here to replace the creepy doll prop -->). That day I stood on the stage bawling my eyes out.  It's shocking to me now since I love being the center of attention, why couldn't I just dance the number!? Somehow dance was not for me.  I loathed the outfit. The tights were itchy. I loved (and still love) wearing sneakers so being barefoot grossed me out a bit.  And my balance was poor, so I kept falling over.

My first job as a physical therapist landed me in a clinic with Boyd Bender, Physical Therapist for Pacific Northwest Ballet.  It was a privilege to work with him, and I was able to attend two of their performances to see what physical therapy looked like in that setting.  Some of the dancers of PNB and other local dance groups would also come to our clinic to see him.  If his schedule couldn't fit them in, sometimes I got to treat them... which is how I came to meet the dancers of Spectrum Dance Theater.

My top three favorite things about working with this particular group of professional dancers:

1) They have the best body awareness.  This likely applies to all dancers, but I feel it differs from athletes of other sports.  Keep in mind that my permanent job is working at Seattle Children's Hospital in pediatric sports medicine.  Sometimes kids who are new at sports haven't fully developed their coordination skills yet and need guidance on how to properly breathe or roll over so they can start to integrate their body systems and function in the world.  They might trip over their feet or have poor hand-eye coordination or have difficulty coordinating activities across their mid-line.  But not dancers.  These athletes know their muscles and what they feel like on a regular day.  They know when things feel "right" and they're very in-tune to when something's "off."  The night before I'm scheduled to head to the beautiful Madrona neighborhood of Seattle to meet with them, I get an email listing their current concerns.  Never before in my career have I had a patient or client say to me - "I pulled my sartorius yesterday doing an arabesque." Or "my left shoulder subluxed while lifting my partner yesterday and it relocated on its own so can you just check it out and give me some suggestions for what to do so I can lift again today."  My personal favorite so far, "I stubbed my toe and I don't think there's anything you can do about it, but I'm pretty sure it's causing me to have a cramp in my calf and can you check it?" Compare these to the usual response I get, "my leg hurts" and you can recognize why treating them is so great.

Awesome view of Mount Rainier from Madrona, Seattle, WA next to Spectrum Dance Theater 

2) They're smart! I can't generalize this to all dancers - it may just apply to the Spectrum group. This is a team of performers taking interest in being informed about issues of the world, or at least the issue of their current show. Perhaps Donald Byrd, Spectrum's Executive Artistic Director, might just recruit intelligent people willing to support the company's mission "Dance as an art form and as a social/civic instrument."  But the diversity in the group and their varied educations and upbringings make them more culturally aware and socially responsible.  It doesn't hurt that he has two dancers from Connecticut, making my home state proud!

This week, I spent a few hours treating the dancers before their performance of "H.R.3244" at Washington Hall in Seattle.  (Shows continue April 8th, 10th, and 11th - check it out!)  From the show notes, "H.R.3244 is the bill number for the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 passed by the US Congress and signed into law on October 28, 2000. It states 'to combat trafficking in persons, especially into the sex trade, slavery, and involuntary servitude, to reauthorize certain Federal programs to prevent violence against women, and for other purposes.'"  The performance represents the emotional response to human trafficking - both informing the audience about the legislation while reminding us that this problem continues to exist today - and demonstrating the emotions it can evoke with hope to elicit conversation and action.  Following the show, several of the dancers had the opportunity to explain their research processes to learn about the issue and find a way to identify with their roles.  It was wonderful.

Spectrum Dancers and Executive Artistic Director, Donald Byrd, in a panel discussion after the show

3) Their ability to move covers all varieties of movement and the whole spectrum of emotions. (Like what I did there?)  Pick an adjective- they can embody it.  And they're not using words!  The first time I went to PNB for the ballet of Don Quixote, I didn't realize that it was different from a musical play... and kept wondering when they would start speaking!  That's how little I know about dance.  But about human movement?  I know a little something about movement and they can be so many different things - Smooth versus Rough, Flowing versus Rigid, Light versus Dark, Superficial versus Deep, Cerebral versus Visceral, Explosive versus Contained.  This is the human body as an art form.

The last production I saw from Spectrum was (IM)Pulse, a reaction to the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando and to victims of hate crimes based on gender identity.  I had seen several of the dancers in the clinic for neck pain and finally asked them what was going on with the choreography to make them present the way they were.  They were basically dancing out seizures with rapid head movements several times throughout the show.  I had to see the performance and immediately understood the relationship between the choreography and the conditions I was seeing on the treatment table, and it really did elicit an emotional response to the social issue on display.

https://spectrumdance.org/impulse-review-city-arts/

So I'm finally learning a little bit about dance.  I have a long way to go.  Maybe if they like having me around, they'll give me a chance to take a class or two to feel how they really move and learn a few things.  To be fair, it would probably take many more than just a class or two.  But maybe I'll have a similar reaction to dance as I did to yoga!