Dancing with Families
Getting my kids offstage, so the Dancing Families performance can start already….
An Ode to Sunday Rehearsals
Week after week, before TSMP’s regular [in-person] Sunday afternoon rehearsals, I forget how rewarding it is to be a part of our artistic practice. Like, every week I forget. This is because I’m a parent of two tiny kids. The late afternoon melancholy of a toddler and preschooler tend to fall regrettably at the exact time that I need to leave for rehearsal. Regrettably. Out of guilt and solidarity, I throw together some semblance of dinner prep for my husband and sheepishly bolt. I grumble as I rush to the studio. I proclaim that I can’t balance parenting and work with dance. I tell myself I should be home with my family right now. It’s the one day of the week we’re all together. This is unsustainable.
But we get to rehearsal. We all unload the stresses, challenges and frustrations of our weeks. Then we move with each other and for each other. We ask questions and try to solve the unsolvable equations we’ve devised for ourselves. It’s restorative. As hard as it is to leave the house on a Sunday afternoon, I return to my family a much more patient mom, better prepared to power through bedtime routines, to creepily stare at them while they sleep and with an overly confident sense that I can, and will, (at least try) to spin all the plates.
My sense of ownership of the terms ‘artist’ or ‘dancer’ has always been in a state of flux: never more so than in the last five years of balancing the ever-shifting puzzle of freelance/full-time work and parenting. But I’ve been blindsided by the currently imposed, full-stop break. I haven’t really stopped sprinting in the past twelve weeks to even recognize the loss of this time and space carved out for dance. Or to recollect the frustration and the reward of it all.
But I tell myself that within our restorative process, TSMP allows our work to breathe and grow by keeping on pace with our lives and capacities. And it occurs to me that maybe I could bring that same consideration home even when I’m not actually leaving the house. And if that doesn’t empower me through bath time, I’m hopeful and excited to know what we will continue to create the next time I grumble my way over to the studio.
FAMILIES DANCE WITH US!
Sometimes we actually bring our kids TO the studio with us! And you can too!! TSMP partners with its resident studio space, VOLTA Performing Arts, to present Dancing Families 3-4 times throughout the season. Join us for a casual, low-stakes and interactive opportunity to view live performance featuring original works by TSMP and other VOLTA artists-in-residence. So, find a seat on the floor, open your (nut-free) snacks and get settled in before realizing your little one has to go to the bathroom. Don’t worry, we’ll wait!