"I am nearly 75 years old. I live in freedom in an extraordinary city and worry about my former home and my mother's grave in (former Soviet) Latvia. This is Putin's war, not Russia's battle. I am not afraid to speak out and address Putin directly. This cycle of hate and fear cannot last."
- Ballet icon and choreographer MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV in a television interview from New York.Everything seems be on fire. Ideas. Ethics. Morality codes. Our words and actions.
Violence in several ways. Bloodshed through hatchets or by the gavel of the law.
In these turbulent and troubling times, we, the community of performing artistes, need to ask ourselves why we do what we do. Does it merely have a meaning for us, for our spirits and our souls? Is it a mere palliative, dousing us with self importance and creating an echo chamber for those who are willing to gather at our feet? Does beauty have power? Does the act of art making have a purpose beyond spreading positivity and hope? Is that not enough by itself?
Being away from home and the country creates a shift inside your being. I have found that from the moment I sit in my airplane seat, my mind begins to wander - forwards and backwards. What has just occurred and what is to unfold. I also find myself searching for WHERE I locate myself in the world of the Performing Arts. As someone who does not qualify as a "busy dancer" or a "teacher/guru" in the traditional sense of the word, I question myself as to "why" I continue on the path that I have chosen. And then something happens, a stranger approaches me in flight or during transit from another land, and the compliments spring forth about a work, a comment I have made on social media or a video they have watched during the pandemic. The self belief returns, stronger than ever, and I am smiling - inside.
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