What’s Your Dance Personality?

Are you a Special Snowflake Diva? An Insular Bell Jar? The Geek Felicia Day? Or The Humble Rachel Brice Gandhi? (Theorised by a (mostly) Geek Felicia Day.)

I present these four personality types with the theory that not one person is ever just one of these personalities. While some might lean heavily to one, I think we all have a little bit of each of them in us. It’s the percentage of which and what, that is what makes us unique. The humble Gandhi dancer really can’t be that amazing of a dancer with out a little special snowflake attitude on stage. It’s like putting a pinch of salt in chocolate chip cookies, the salt does make the cookie taste sweeter. Enjoy and have fun with this! =)

The Geek Felicia Day : If you don’t know who Felicia Day is, you might want to read up, but just from her picture you can probably guess, she is the geek girl next door that made good by never giving up and finding her voice by staying true to her geek self. She is the realist that is sometimes far too aware of herself and that makes her a little awkward. Maybe she came to dance a little later in life, maybe she is fighting a body type, maybe she is just that uncoordinated. Maybe none of that matters. She just keep showing up to class. Because she is just happy when she is there (even when she is terrible at dancing). In spite of her self conscious nature she comes off as gregarious and has an uncanny ability to make light of herself. She is able to do this with ease because she finds she is more comfortable with herself dancing than anywhere else. She buys her tickets religiously to (comic-con) the Bolshoi (or insert your dance equivalent) when they come to town. She makes fan videos and puts them up on youtube and as the years pass something happens. She start to get a little good. She’s never under any delusions, she’ll never be “a star”, but she does achieve a measure of success that is realistic and greatly satisfying in her own world and that is hers to keep no matter what she sees in the mirror. The quiet confidence it gives her keeps her coming back with a smile on her face.

The Insular Bell Jar : You got the technical skill down. You practice foot work and body positioning and technique. You are the one the Felicia Day’s follow and watch in class because she knows you are always going to get the combination right. But there’s something that’s holding you back. When you are in class you are physical perfection but there is no emotion connected to the movement. It’s as if you are looking at everything through a pane of glass, nothing quiet effects you and you can only press against the glass if you were to reach out. You don’t talk a lot in class and only really respond to the teacher. I theorise that the Insular Bell Jar Dancer has done one of two things to become this way. They either feel things so intensely that a pane of glass actually protects them from others around them, (gossip, head games and other distractions, like talking) or they want it so badly that the want has become the glass barrier around them that has stunted them from making the emotional connection to the art and they now have to break through it to progress, if they even know it’s there. For what ever reason they are trapped or have taken refuge inside the bell jar. Do you have to rage yourself out of a bell jar or will quiet tears dissolve the glass?

The Special Snowflake Diva : A Special Snowflake Diva is a dancer who expects all the attention and all the praise just for being themselves — doing anything to deserve it, is completely optional. Oh you special snow flakes, how did you get that self-satisfied grin? (I wish I had it.) Really? With just an award for just showing up? (Amazing.) Ok, that’s not totally fair, you do have some skills, you’ve been showing up to class for so long somethings have rubbed off on you. You figured out a long time ago that dancing was good for your body and now you’re here to maintain and show it off and you’ve dress to impress the one male dancer that has shown up to class. Yes, please stand front and center all the time, apparently that’s your spot. Where did that entitlement come from? You’ve thought of everything about your appearance, even down to your sparkling toes.  Is that why you are dancing in my face or is it that you are just trying to impress me? Sometimes you are dangerous when you dance. Being only aware of yourself and not recognizing other dancers space can get people injured but you are so delusional you think you are a better than you are and everyone else. (Sometimes, I envy that.) Who do you see when you look in the mirror? She must be incredible.

The Humble Rachel Brice Gandhi : Sirens actually called you to dance in the womb and you answered on your cell phone. There was an angel that came to your crib that gave you rhythm and grace. When your parents changed your diaper, you lifted both your legs up straight and pointed your toes. Since you could walk you’ve practiced and honed your gifts and now it truly fills the stage. You’re the one people talk about when you enter the room or class, maybe you teach the class. You distance yourself from the special snowflake diva vampires but without being evil, you are nice to them because you accept who they are. You are a giving dancer. You encourage and are always there when you see a flash or spark from someone around you. You know the more you know, the more you know nothing about dance. You are in the studio for hours and hours to achieve perfection, knowing it is a myth, but strive for perfection anyway. You are humble with this knowledge and it gives you a quiet confidence that everyone around you gravitates to and (like the Mona Lisa) can’t figure out but they want to figure it out because they want what you have, and they will watch you for hours to try to figure it out.

I shot and edited this (fan video) for Rachel a long time ago, even before Man Man vs. The Indigo, apologies for the resolution.