Jarkko Lehmus Diary

Handjobs and child abuse

Dancing is a bit like barehand fishing: you flail around like a lunatic and when the day's done you're left wet, hungry and tired. It tends to get to you after a while. So when a friend of mine asked me last week to lay some laminate flooring in her new flat I was more than happy to help. There I was with a pile of laminates, a jigsaw, a ruler, a tapemeasure, a pencil and a thumb in my mouth standing in the middle of the lounge. After a few minutes of tumbleweed rolling through my otherwise blank mind I headed for the nearest corner and started making mistakes. Six hours later I was standing on the same spot with a beer in my hand and a satisfied grin on my face, the lounge and the hall boasting a bright new floor! Another friend, with equal lack of knowledge on the subject at hand, had joined me about an hour or so into the job and with a little experimentation and a general gung ho-attitude we eventually succeeded with flying colours. It's very satisfying to be able to say: "I made this", to have some concrete evidence of the work you've done. Returning to the original topic of dance: after the buzz and back slapping of a show well done wanes what do you have left? Abstract, intangible feelings that fade away. Sometimes it's just not enough... Or maybe I'm just not a 'True Artiste'.

Maybe I should have stayed in the army as a Drill Seargeant. I spent the best part of today in London giving workshops to boys aged 12 to 14 the majority of whom had no dance background and even less interest. About a hundred kids divided into four groups with a generous time allocation of, oh, thirty minutes per group. A lot of loud music, a bit of shouting, running, push ups and sit ups, very basic plies and tendus followed by a spot of weird contemporary movement courtesy of Mr Petronio's MiddleSexGorge and they were ripe to crawl back to their respective mummies. I hope I was able to shed a few stereotypes and if even one out of that hundred headed horde found the work interesting and pursues his interests further it was all worth it.

The more possibilities we're given from an early age the better. The more stimulating the environment the broader and brighter the mind? You can't really be interested in something you don't know exists? Then again there are people who go looking for something without even the slightest idea of what that might be only realising it when they find it or when they have already passed it and lost it. You can look for something so hard that when it slaps you in the face you'll throw it away in annoyance and continue looking for it. Such is the nature of man to throw his life away chasing mirages.

How did I end up here? I'm not drunk, for once, nor under the influence of any other poisons. Sleep deprivation it must be then...

Posted by Jarkko at April 21, 2004 12:57 AM