Thursday, September 2, 2010

What the...

I just noticed that one of my videos, embedded below, has somehow amassed over 100,000 views on YouTube since I posted it in 2006.



I'm posting this not because I want to brag, but because I'm amazed and humbled and more than a little confused.
I performed this dance live in front of perhaps eighty people, ninety at most. I was unsure if anyone would like it-- I was worried it'd be too "over the top" for everyone's taste. I remember watching the video afterward and sort of hating it. All I could focus on were the rough edges around my technique.
I put it on YouTube just so I could post it on Tribe.net and get some feedback from other dancers. If I had imagined that one hundred thousand people would end up watching it-- some of them professional tango dancers, many of whom were offended by it!-- I very well might have left it offline.
Now I watch the video and I enjoy it in the same way I'd enjoy someone else's performance; I have enough distance on 2006 Sara that she's practically another dancer to me at this point. I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish at the time, given my limited skill set and lack of experience. Despite its technical problems, I think that the dance 'works' because I was committed to what I was doing, I prepared more than enough ahead of time, and I knew my music really well.
If nothing else, I think the fact that I love the song enough to marry it comes through loud and clear. I like that.
What I take from this experience is that it's not always all about skill when it comes to making art; sometimes passion is enough.

2 comments:

  1. That was an awesome performance! You definitely loved that song. Want to see our version?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCnH4BYrqHg

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  2. Thanks for sharing your troupe's version, Joanna! I really enjoyed it!
    I love the entire soundtrack. It's one of my favorite movies.

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