by Thaak Sun May 24, 2009 8:04 am
wow, great topic! I do have a couple thoughts on this.
As James has said, this can be seen with many different physical arts.
When you reach a certain level of Martial training, dancing, gymnastics, or anything that requires top physical production with either a level of intensity or artistic flair to leave observers gasping with emotion, you tend to leave behind the ego and work directly from source.
My shamanic instructor would call this the epitome of Ayni (reciprocal exchange) and Munay (dissolving the "I" into "One".)
Its at a moment when true perfection can be achieved by simply not trying to achieve, but just existing with in the moment of action and exulting in it for the sake of the action. To transmit the emotion of that action as you feel it, to all those who observe it in one fashion or another.
In martial training, you'll notice that strikes and defenses, without variation, rely upon ultimate physical efficiency. My instructor's definition of intensity is maximum physical and mental focus and intensity at point of impact. You torque your entire skeletal-muscular structure into an efficient line of force or reflection of force (for strikes and defenses). It is not a coincidence that without variation, these efficient lines of force parallel or even use the meridians or energy lines within our body.
So the more you train this physically, it will have a causal effect upon you energetically. The energetic body and the physical body are wholly intertwined and as one is affected, so is the other, equally.
I don't know much about ballet, so I can't speak as to why James's experience with dancers is different between ballet dancers and contemporary. But having watched "So You Think You Can Dance" the last 4 summers (and will again this summer), I can attest to the fact that most of the contemporary, jazz, and lyrical dancers have a very organic flow to their movement that allows them to portray the emotion of a piece of music with what appears to be minimum of effort. They are essentially an artist of movement. My limited experience with Ballet, is that it is a very structured style of dance, and the emotion only is portrayed by the absolute pinnacle of ballet dancers, those who have been able to transcend the structure into pure art. If you watched Superstars of Dance earlier this year, you would have seen one of the solo finalists (I think she took 1st place?) was one of the best Russian ballet dancers right now. She, I felt, was able to transcend the structure to perform with pure art of movement.
On another note, one thing that my shamanic instructor has told me, is that martial arts, the physical part of energetic training, as she put it, is a great way to keep yourself grounded, balanced, and centered. Because, dependent on style, at some point you learn about your energetic center and how to anchor it to the earth and use it as a fulcrum for your movement.
The style I train doesn't teach this overtly, but all the physical training they teach shows you how to physically do this. As you get advanced (black belt and further) as I have, you start to learn on your own how to connect the dots between your energetic work and your physical work. You learn how to use that energetic fulcrum.
Some styles start the energetic (Chi) training from the very basic classes.
In Dance, you can't be a true artist, someone that can transmit that emotional state through art of movement, without having mastered the art of using the energetic fulcrum (even if you don't know that's what you are doing.)
All this, balancing, centering, grounding, efficiency of movement of the energetic fulcrum, results in a cleansing of the meridians or energy lines both inside and outside the physical body.