Joy in Motion’s Mission Statement!
The Joy in Motion Mission Statement is finally here! After carefully considering my goals for the coming years, I have written and posted the “official” Joy in Motion Mission Statement. It outlines my mission as a writer and instructor in the social dance realm. You can read the mission statement below. It will also make its permanent home on the Joy in Motion homepage. Please feel free to email me your comments and suggestions by visiting the Contact page.
Enjoy!
Joy in Motion Mission Statement
Joy in Motion is devoted to the celebration and exploration of social dance. The basic premise of Joy in Motion is that movement is not intended to be detached from the spirit. Focus is therefore placed on concepts that explore the uniting of spirit and movement, including connection, musicality, grounded energy, and flow. Bringing these concepts onto the dance floor encourage a partnership that is as dynamic and alive as the personalities that compose it.
Although every form of social dance - from salsa to Argentine tango to swing to ballroom - has its own unique dance culture, the focus of Joy in Motion is to explore the intangible qualities that all social dances share. Joy in Motion aims to draw knowledge and inspiration from a variety of disciplines and to find common experience through many and diverse manifestations of that experience. These reflections are not meant to be the final word, but rather a starting point for further exploration and discussion.
The focus of Joy in Motion necessarily reflects my journey and experience as a dancer. The study of the intangibles of social dance is not an exact science, but an art form as well as a personal and spiritual pursuit. Therefore, not all readers will agree with my ideas, reflections, and conclusions. However, my goal is to provide more questions than answers and to stimulate a richer experience and expression of the individual through social dance.
Online Survey for Tango Dancers
Tango Mercurio, a nonprofit dance organization based in Washington, D.C., is looking for at least 500 responses to their survey on tango and social dance. The goal of the survey is to study the social impact that tango has in the lives of those who dance it. “Our hope,” says Tango Mercurio on its website, “is that this work will contribute to a growing public awareness of the value of tango and social dance in general.”
Tango dancers in the United States are encouraged to take this anonymous 15-minute survey by June 30, 2009.
Take Tango Mercurio’s survey here.
Tango Mercurio just started up this year and is looking to expand with education, performance, outreach, and research in the coming years. Show your support for this worthy project by visiting their website and/or making a donation. Here is their mission statement:
“Mercury is an ancient symbol of connection and a catalyst of transformation. We find this resonates with our experience of the tango embrace, in which two partners become one with a movement language that transcends boundaries of class, ethnicity, and generation. Time itself seems to slow as the improvised life of each tango brings dancers into the present moment, where the whole is somehow greater than the sum of its parts.
Tango Mercurio believes that as it happens on the dance floor, so it also happens in the world. We are committed to the promotion of Argentine tango as a unifying and transforming force in our community. Our projects aim to inspire creative dialogue and collaborative growth in personal, professional, and public life.”
