Friday, July 12, 2013

Bailar

A very short post, because I am so tired from the week, but a quick reflection on a moment today.

Alexis and I stayed at school for an extra hour today for a dance lesson in merengue, bachata and salsa. Anyone who knows me knows that I can dance my tail off at a wedding, and I can let loose when needed, but when given actual, reasonable, specific dancing steps, I'm lost. I cannot move that way. My brain hears the beat, but my feet won't move to it. My ears understand and catch the music's waves, but my legs can't keep up or stay on it. It's a kind of movement that I have never mastered, or even approached mastering. I'm not sure my feet are teachable.

But watching my teacher move today, and listening more deeply to the music, I was reminded that what I can do is feel the beat. I don't completely understand all of the words to any of the bachata songs that we listened to but I can tell you this: I felt them. I could recognize them instantly as bachata, and I could feel something inside of me stir. As someone who knows emotions and feelings all too well, something about bachata moved me inside. And so maybe, with time, my legs can move to it, too. In schools, we set standards and require that all kids meet them all of the time. But what about the kid who cannot get her legs to move to the music, but can feel it ringing in her ears and moving her heart? Does she understand the bachata any less? What about the student who sees it as a puzzle, or a painting, or can't move to it but can weave a new piece of music from it that represents herself? How do we make room for these students, and recognize that they too can be moved by dancing, even when it is not their feet that move?

Maggie, Alexis and I sat around talking tonight about how we create great middle schools, and how so much of adolescence is about helping kids articulate who they are as individuals. Participating in the dance class today was a good reminder to celebrate the kids who move to the beat and the kids who are moved by it in some way, too. An even better reminder that, at least to me, one option is not necessarily better than another, even when a standard says it is.

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