I have always thought the dragon dance was a very cool part of Silent
River. I have always admired how it had
the ability to bring the I Ho Chuan team together. What I did understand was that the commitment
to perform a dragon dance was immense, and discouraged myself from its
involvement due to my flaky work schedule.
What I didn’t entirely understand, was the gears behind what makes the
dragon dance so potent a team builder.
Over the last couple of practice times, I have had the opportunity to be
part of the dragon dance as a fill in.
Truly I am a great test of their empathy, feeling most like a square cog
in a Swiss watch, yet at the same time, feeling accepted, and instantly part of
the team.
The development of a weapon form over a year of mastery requires many
things. The development of a dragon
dance requires the exact same things with one exception. It requires familiarization
with its movement, flow, and function. Identifying problems and working to
solutions. It requires repetition to develop proficiency and skill. It causes a stretch of limits and abilities
to push out of comfort zones. The dragon
dance however, does this in a team environment, but in a much different way
than say it would with a basketball or hockey club. If a person has a bad day on a hockey team,
he ends up playing less minutes and his lack of involvement is rather
dilute.
Alternatively, the link in a dragon dance team is literal. It takes into account the physiology and
abilities of each person. Tall, short,
limber, stiff, injured, healthy all these things taken from every individual
get thrown into this melting pot and turn into a dragon soup that has its own
flavour as a result of its ingredients.
The experience this far has been really exceptional. The team’s patience,
kindness and willingness to help advance my abilities are unbelievable. My hesitation to get involved vaporized in
about 10 minutes after hopping into the dragon.
I would like to thank all of you for that. It truly is what has made this team
exceptional.
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