Posts Tagged ‘message’

Words from the publisher

By Rhee Gold

The stunning image on this month’s cover has a message behind it. It conveys how art, in all its forms, crosses the boundaries of joy and sadness in every aspect of our lives—in this case, the personal struggles of so many women who have battled with breast cancer. The image, created by photographer Curtis Brown, was part of a gallery exhibit and YouTube video called “Weight of the Ribbon,” from which half the proceeds of print, postcard, and DVD sales went to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure NC Triangle Affiliate (see “FYI,” Dance Studio Life, August 2009). As soon as I saw Curtis’ photographs, all of dancers with Carolina Ballet, I knew I wanted to use one on this month’s cover.

As many of you know, since 1985 October has been designated as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. No one is more cognizant of that than Dance Studio Life’s publisher, Rhee Gold, whose mother died of breast cancer in 1994, at a youthful 59. This disease strikes young and old, in startling numbers. According to “Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2007–2008,” a report by the American Cancer Society, “an estimated 178,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer in women will be diagnosed in 2007, and approximately 40,460 deaths will be recorded. Only lung cancer accounts for more cancer deaths in women.”

But there’s some good news. The report goes on to say that between 1990 and 2004, on average, the number of deaths due to breast cancer decreased by 2.2 percent.

What does all this talk of illness and death have to do with dance? Nothing, and everything. With women dominating the dance-teaching field, it’s probably safe to say that breast cancer has touched nearly every dancer’s or dance teacher’s life directly or indirectly, or both. So educate yourselves, and in the rush of everyday life and career challenges and personal stresses, remember to take care of yourselves too.

In my mind, there’s a direct tie-in between health and this issue’s theme of creativity. As we’ve shown in so many stories over the years—stories about how dance therapy helps children cope with illness, about dance teachers who find the strength, both physical and mental, to persist in their art even in the face of life-threatening illness—the power of art is not to be underestimated. It plays a tremendous role in maintaining health and promoting emotional well-being. As any creative being knows—and we are all creators in some way—we experience a rush of joy when we’re doing what we love. And the feeling of fulfillment that lingers afterward, whether for hours or days, is the perfect antidote to the negative effects of stress, which can destroy both our health and our happiness.

In this issue of Dance Studio Life, you’ll find many ways to explore creativity, for yourselves and for your students, through choreography, improvisation, imaginative ideas for the classroom, and more. Turn the pages, set aside your worries, and find the joy.

This October, we urge you to create.