I am not much of a dancer, but I get the basics. There’s really 2 main components. First, moving your body as an expression of the music. Second, keeping in step with your partner. I think conversation (something I am way more accustomed to than dancing) is a lot like that. We use our words to express what we are thinking/feeling and, (at least if we are good at conversation) we are doing out best to keep our words in line with the rhythm of our conversation partner. There is a constant exchange which takes place here. In conversation, we choose our words, our tone, and our timing not only in accordance with the rhythm of the conversation, but in response to the movements of the other person (or people if you really want to make it complicated!).

Both dancing and conversation are artistic forms of expression of my opinion. Like dancing, conversations can be either graceful and exhilarating or cumbersome and traumatic. Both are also exhausting. Good conversations, like good dancing are draining – physically as well as emotionally. Both are practices you engage in not merely with skill, though that helps, but with thought, passion, and feeling.

Why bother to draw this analogy and bother to write all this? Couple of reasons.

First, I long to be an artist. I seriously envy those who can dance, draw, paint, sculpt, make music, or concoct brilliant and elaborate pieces of fiction. But that’s not me. I am a conversationalist, a speaker, and a teacher. I use words to try and paint pictures and shape imaginations. Maybe I am just stretching this, but I think that has some artistic merit.

Second, you can never have too many good analogies and this one reminds me that our words and the conversations they construct are never neutral – like any other art form, they either help or hinder that which they aim to express.

So here’s to the hope and expectation of dancing well with our words. Cheers!

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So, my aim here is not so much to spawn a discussion as it is to start a trend. I have offered a few of my reflections on art, I will offer something “artistic” that I have done, and I am going to tag 5 people who I think have tremendous artistic abilities and ask them to do the same. If you were tagged (or even if you weren’t and you still want to play, honestly I’d love to circulate this as broadly as possible), here’s what you do…

1. Briefly mention how you think of art.

2. Offer something artistic that you have done – a picture, a song, a poem, photography, a presentation of some sort, something which you believe conveys truth and beauty, something which you believe can serve as an inspiration to others.

3. Tag 5 other people whom you believe posses artistic ability, link to this post, and pass along these same instructions.

Here’s a short video of a PowerPoint Presentation I put together for a class I was helping with a couple weeks ago. It’s a series of images, quotes, Scripture verses, and some statistics set to Derek Webb‘s song, “This Too Shall Be Made Right.” You can download the video here and if you want the PowerPoint presentation itself, here ya go, but be forewarned, the likelihood of this presentation displaying the same way I put it together is slim and none. You’ll be better off if you’re using a mac I think, but even then you might have some trouble.

Here’s my 5…

Sean Savage

Alex Rozko

Josh Elek

Leanne Snavely

Jenelle D’Alessandro

Related posts:

1. Dancing with Words

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