A different kind of environment

For my service learning alternative, I am analyzing a different kind of environment that “nature.” A dance studio may not be the first thing people think about when contemplating an environment, however, dance has a huge affect on many lives, including mine. So basically, I am analyzing the different environments that come with different styles of dance. You might think this is a completely bizarre idea, but growing up dancing in many different ways and in different studios, you find that there are very different atmospheres (or environments) when you go from ballet, to contemporary, to ethnic, to hip hop, etc.

Whatever environment you find yourself in, there are different influences and different things that are considered important for that environment. If you think of a greenhouse, the environment requires sunlight, dirt, seeds, irrigation, etc. The sunlight influences the growth of the seeds into plants, and so on. Compare this to a dance studio: people, music, passion, food, and so on. These all have some sort of influence on the dancer. What differs in environment is the dance and the dancers. For example, the environment of ballet has a very high stress on body type, which quite often causes self-consciousness and eating disorders. There is a call for certain body types in order to “create line.” Ballet is also very much a dance which tends to create a separation between audience and dancer. However, moving to contemporary dancing, you find many dancers who have shape in their body. “Line” is not the focus, but rather the dancing, itself. There is often an emotional connection, too, between audience and dancer(s).

These are just two simple examples of a dancers’ environment. What we do and who we surround ourself with are very much a part of our personal environments everyday.