Who should come up in these thoughts but Michael Jackson and we have shamelessly posted about him today. Well, about practice but with MJ as a reference point. Serendipitously, it led me to a quote about practice from Martha Graham, one of the greatest names of modern dance. She said, "Practice is a mean of inviting the perfection desired."
I'd heard of her but wanted to know at least a little more and found this in the wikipedia page about her:
She invented a new language of movement, and used it to reveal the passion, the rage and the ecstasy common to human experience.
And this quote from her:
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."
I'm not a dancer. Maybe I'm not even an artist. But I resonate with "a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive..."
If my art is to enjoy myself, to truly engage in this one wild, precious life (thanks, Mary Oliver) that is mine...then I invite its perfection with daily practice.
