Just Dance

In follow up to the previous post about Agnes DeMille, I was delighted to learn that at a later age in her autobiography, Dance to the Piper, Agnes did in fact grow a backbone and stand up for herself. I admit that my rant about the book was somewhat harsh and perhaps uncalled for, but let it be known that my frustrations were more with her choice in lifestyle than in any capacity her quality of work produced. (Hence why I gave kudos to her for several of her best works). And I know for a fact that Agnes is an extremely talented writer because I loved reading her book, The Life and Work of Martha Graham.


I was excited at the amount of responses that came from that post. Some people agreed with me to an extent while others were offended that I focused more on her lifestyle. Many of my friends admitted that they neglected to read the book in school as well, but wanted to after reading my reactions and descriptions. Since I am happy to promote literacy, I invite others to read the book too and see what your own reaction is.

If there was one thing that this book taught me, it was at the point in the book when Agnes was choreographing Oklahoma!. Having reached her final breaking point, Agnes decided that she was getting paid to do it her way, so she wouldn't worry about what anyone else thought. She decided that this would be her last choreographic work, so nothing else mattered after this and she could feel free to pour herself into the work without worry. What I took from that was the fact that other people will respect you for standing up for yourself. And also that one of Agnes' best works was created with disregard for what other people think. She totally earned back some of my respect at that point. The irony here is the fact that this lesson parallels my life right now and how I am having to toughen my outlook to survive in New York City.

But when life gets you down, or the negativity is coming at you, you only need to remember one thing....

In the words of Lady GaGa, "Just Dance." Simple.