On writing and dancing

Pier Vittorio Tondelli, in his book A post-modern weekend, stated: «I know that the secret of writing is to throw away and re-try, without fears and without boredom; it is the awareness that working with words is a playful, yet hard game, as each paragraph implies a choice [...]. Therefore, in order to write a story it isn’t very important to think or have plenty of ideas. It is important to draft [...]. The best ideas show up while writing». 

I come back to this passage whenever I am about to write something and I don’t feel particularly inspired, or good, or talented. These words always give me strength and support, and they prove true in my experience: the process of writing, which includes throwing away and re-trying, leads me to analyse certain matters and find out ideas or phrases that would have stayed hidden otherwise. 

I guess that's why I like writing. For me it’s a sort of a personal need for exploring and better understanding myself and the world around me. Sometimes it gives me pleasure, if the words used are adequate and meaningful, or they are simply beautifully set. I mainly write for myself. However, I decided to open this blog because I would like to challenge myself to write publicly on a more regular basis, with the hope I will improve my writing skills, give visibility to certain subjects and bring someone’s attention to themes I deem interesting. 

The biggest passions of my life are dance and literature, which I try to combine in my personal, academic and professional life, often failing in the intent. I have been going to dance classes since I was six and never stopped. I began with ballet (my child dream was to become a ballerina!) and then I fell in love with contemporary dance. A professional path in this direction was not pursued (literature had the best that time :P), but the passion for dance never faded. As much as writing, for me dancing represents a personal need for exploring and better understanding myself and the world around me, through my body. Dance makes me feel free and alive, it makes me feel myself.  

Photo by Vinicio Goffo 

While studying Italian philology at university (in Bologna), I started attending theatre and dance performances more often and I took part in a laboratory of performing arts journalism and critique. That’s when I found out how cool it is to stay on the other side of the stage, have a critical view on the shows and express it exactly through writing. Since then, even if very sporadically, I kept reviewing contemporary dance performances. Despite the fact that sometimes I still dream of being a professional dancer and amaze international audiences with my movements, I am overall happy with my being in between the two worlds, the writing and the dancing. 

So, here I am, with my “choreographed thoughts”. This title might sound a bit pretentious, but I conceive it as something rather simple: as a choreographer organises and writes the steps of their dance, putting effort and care to details as well as to the big picture, I will try to organise and write my thoughts, about dance or something else. Keeping in mind that the first step is to draft.