When people say “Life’s a dance” they are usually referring to partner dancing where two people hold hands and try not to step on each other’s feet. You know “sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow.” But sometimes life’s a dance like a ballet teacher trying to get 5 year olds to perform for the first time. At least one is going to cry and not do anything, someone is going to do things in the opposite direction, and everyone is going to be looking somewhere for direction except the one kid who’s a natural performer. Sometimes life’s a dance like in middle school where everyone shows up in the same room and then just stands around not knowing what to do and being awkward. Even when it’s just us life can be a dance like going to a great latin dance club where you move/are moved from one partner to the next, one song to the next, having great experiences, but never having a moment to take it all in until you’re back on the street going “what just happened there?”
For many people life is like a Broadway musical. It’s full of dance numbers with complicated choreography. Not only do you have to learn all the steps and be able to perform them in the right way so as to mesh with all the other dancers, but you need to meet the expectations of the choreographer as well. When has any such production every gone perfectly from start to finish? Oh, I’m gonna guess somewhere close to never both on the boards and in life. So there’s that. There’s also the difficulty when it comes to being the choreographer. People often get caught up in trying to get a project off the ground from camping trips, to family vacations, from purchasing a new home to taking on a new job to just getting dinner on the f*$&ing table. They need everyone to kick together in the right direction, to FosseFosse left vs right and kick/ball/change rather than slide in order for things to actually move forward.
Sometimes it all comes together. A good dress rehearsal, a wonderful improvisational moment, and gelling of the company and the moment is full of magic. Sometimes it’s good enough that everyone actually showed up and at least tried. E for effort as they say. But sometimes choreographers get frozen in trying to make everything and everyone get on board, do everything right, and be perfect before they will move forward with the production. And that’s where things can get stuck, because perfectionism doesn’t move things forward, it kills things before they can come into being. If you’re waiting for everyone else to be ready or for everything to be perfect, you’ll wait forever. It’s said that a terrible rehearsal is a good indicator that the show will be a hit. Same thing in life. If you as the choreographer go ahead with things even though the players might not quite be ready, you’ll be surprised at how motivated they get when they realize it’s show time. And that momentum will carry the project not only over the finish line into complete but beyond it into magic.