“I am moving and not moving at all. I’m like the moon underneath the waves that ever go on rolling and rocking. It is not ‘I am doing this’, but rather, ‘this is happening through me’, or ‘it is doing this for me’. The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action” – Bruce Lee
I love this quote of Bruce Lee’s. I found it when I was in the midst of rehearsals for a 10-minute totally improvised dance. It spoke to me of the moments when we’d be dancing together (it was me and two other dancers) and I would make a move or extend a contact with one of them and it would feel powerful and effortless. The very next time we rehearsed I would find my brain, my ego, wanting to recreate that, wanting to get to that place and forcing choices and just hoping to get the accolades it got the last time from work that was completely outside its realm.
I used the ideas of “this is happening through me” and “it is doing this for me” to make an effort to remove that ego demand from my dancing. It isn’t easy. Performing becomes so much about the achievement of pleasure in your viewers and yourself. It is hard to leave that up to chance. Ego is a dancing monkey doing tricks over and over. Even though it is satisfying to always provide what the audience wants or give that ego a hit. It can’t be done through the ego and be delicious and fulfilling. The effortless and powerful come from allowing it to happen through me. That means the dancing monkey needs to be retired.
Here is a link to Lee’s essay about learning detachment while studying gung fu.
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