Do Dancers Talk?

Got an email from Eliza's teacher Brett today that they will be learning a few dance steps from Andre's mom Stephanie who is a dancer. Eliza thought about that for a minute, and asked, "Do dancers talk?" She was thinking about the Nutcracker, because her followup question was, "Does Clara talk?"

But I kind of knew what she meant. Sort of. I was rushing to get her ready to go and so I was like, "Sure, baby girl, they talk. Just not while they're dancing. Get them backstage...."

Fortunately I did have enough pistons firing in my brain to tell Stephanie about Eliza's question when we saw her, and Stephanie gave a much, much better answer. "Dancers talk with their bodies."

And I was like, of course, duh. And then I was thinking about how many different things dancers are able to say, and how like different languages allow us to express different kinds of thoughts, dance is important because it communicates deep, felt, physical things.

How do you explain this to a two year old?

I tried: "Dancers can say, 'I feel sad.'" Then I said, "How do you think you can say 'hi' without talking?" I showed her waving. And then I said, "How do you say I love you without speaking," and I pulled her to me and gave her the kind of kiss Eliza especially loves, lingering, soft, on her cheek which is somehow relaxed and open to it in a special way that she has.

She was kind of melting into my arms at this point, and Stephanie said, "Do you have a place you write these kinds of questions down?" And I was like: Oh, God.

So here it is. This may be all I remember from this past year with Eliza. She's a girl with deep interesting thoughts, but also full of kisses, and loving to be touched and loved.