In today's era of fierce competition and involution, most people are busy rushing in the torrent of life and gradually losing themselves. There is such a modern dance teacher who uses her unique dance teaching methods to help urban people return to themselves and liberate their nature through dance. She is an ELA teacher.
While the author Lin An was living in Xiamen, he got to know freelancers from all walks of life. Among them, ELA teacher’s unique modern dance teaching philosophy and methods attracted her. ELA teachers are dancers, teachers, and choreographers. They live in Xiamen but travel across the country performing and teaching. Her teaching revolves around "improvisation". In her opinion, dance should not just be a repetitive reproduction of movements or fragmented performances, nor should it be restricted by rules and regulations.
ELA teacher went to Beijing to study at the age of ten, received professional training, and learned various dance styles. After being exposed to modern dance in college, she seemed to have opened the door to a new world. Traditional dance, like traditional education, has a fixed framework, while modern dance uses an open attitude, allowing dancers to give dance language according to their own imagination, bringing new explorations every day. At first, ELA teachers also found improvisational dance difficult, after all, previous training was dogmatic. But when she walked into nature and came into contact with the free use of instruments by world music musicians independent of professional disciplines, she felt the pride and pride of free expression of the body. At the same time, her in-depth understanding of folk dance allowed her to truly appreciate the close connection between dance and life, which also made her more convinced of the meaning of dance.
In Teacher ELA’s class, she encourages students to explore their own body structures, and the students in the class range in age. She believes that dance is not only beautiful, but also difficult to perform. Students are dancing when they can develop their body by using their joints to move their muscles. She wants students to be able to use their bodies freely, and she feels deeply proud and moved when she sees students expressing themselves freely in class. Because in real life, most people are bound by various identities and it is difficult to truly be themselves.
One student shared that she accidentally came into contact with ELA teacher’s classes through a friend’s introduction, which completely changed her understanding of dance. She gave up dancing because of painful experiences like pressure on her legs as a child. Here she discovered that dance can have no framework, rules, or specific physical conditions. From being unable to express her feelings in class at the beginning, to being able to keenly observe details and become more and more understanding, she found the confidence to express herself in dance.
The author myself has experienced ELA courses. As a person who has difficulty releasing her natural instincts in front of strangers, although she was a little frustrated during the class, she realized after the class that she might be able to overcome her habit of caring too much about other people's eyes through dance. The ELA teacher also shared her experience of going from being shy and reserved to liberating her nature. During the process of liberating her nature, she was caught by her teacher for "fishing" and had to clean her clothes in front of the whole class. Her emotions ranged from shame to grievance, anger, and... collapse. This progression allowed her to learn to accept her emotions, and she also incorporated this concept into her teaching.
Some people question that the teaching philosophy adhered to by ELA teachers has a small audience, and it is not as fast as teaching situational dance to make money. However, the ELA teacher believes that her teaching is similar to ordinary physical enlightenment classes. When students learn to sense and control their bodies, they learn fragments more quickly, which helps them learn in other areas as well. She helps students understand the body by guiding them to pay attention to breathing, such as different breathing states during daily talking, running, and meditation. She allowed students to feel the connection between breathing and physical state, and even noticed the different movements of the left and right bodies. She believes that this kind of subtle observation and understanding of the body will have a big impact and make people sensitive, and sensitivity is not a bad thing. It allows one to keenly capture the details of perception, which is closely related to improvisational dance and life.
To support studio operations, ELA teachers’ income sources are more diversified. In addition to teaching, she also participates in commercial performances and cross-border cooperation with other industries. In addition, she also likes to collect ethnic handmade clothing, personally visits ethnic minority tribes, and cooperates with craftsmen to produce studio peripheral products. Although there may not be many buyers, she believes that this lifestyle of knowing and doing is an integral part of art and life. She collects the characteristic costumes of Buyi, Miao, Dong and other ethnic groups, and each piece carries unique culture and warmth.
The ELA teacher admits she has been anxious. What she is anxious about is how to make everyone realize more quickly that what she teaches is very instinctive and basic. To this end, she extensively studied the experiences of masters in different industries, read various books, and looked for commonalities between different fields. She believes that the essence of dance is to return to oneself, nature and truth. Dance is just a vehicle. If it makes people happier, why not do it?
In this era of involution, ELA teachers use dance as a boat to lead urban people to find a destination to return to themselves in their busy lives. I believe this article can spark your thinking and self-exploration about dance. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section. You are also welcome to share this article with more people who are lost in life and long to return to their true nature.
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