"Kill your darlings" (or should I say "kill your teachers"?!)

All right. Setting the record straight:

 

1.Before my beloved "haters" accuse me of supporting violence and disrespecting my teachers, here is what I have to say: "kill your teachers" is just an expression (a metaphor), not a literal phrase. Aside from that, I do respect, cherish and love all my teachers.

 

2. I stole the title for this "post" from a movie I watched last month in London (the movie is called "Kill your darlings" and Harry Potter is starring in it).

 

3. Yes, this is a theme I tend to return to but that´s because most people don´t seem to GET IT. I often say: idolatry is a disguised form of hate that is sooner or later revealed. So I refuse being the target of such illusion - although I can´t control people´s minds and attitudes.

 

 

4. The confusion between RESPECTING your teachers and following their footsteps remains practically untouched. Loads of teachers actually LIKE being followed like (mud) idols, copied, licked on their boots, the whole ego trip mambo jambo. Let me clear it out for the 1000th time: I am not one of them. 

The highest cumpliment one of my students can pay me is to BECOME HER/HIMself and create something ORIGINAL, PERSONAL, UNIQUE out of the bases I taught her/him. I want no followers, no copy cats, no boot licking. I don´t even wear boots - I mostly walk barefoot (which confirms what a crazy psychopat ex-boyfriend used to call me: "not a normal woman...a wild creature...a savage..." - that I am...proudly so).

 

The whole teaching system(s) seems to be directed towards an extremely UNcreative direction. Students of all sorts are not trained to think, feel and ask questions that spring from their own souls; they´re trained to REPEAT, COPY, FOLLOW and REPEAT some more (like parrots) instead of UNDERSTANDING the past (what has been done) and being encouraged to CREATE something of their own out and above those dead grounds.

 

My dream as a Teacher is to be surprised by my students; feed them with Knowledge but also with the SELF-CONFIDENCE that will allow them to make something outside of the box (particularly my own box).

 

Each person/artist has her/his own Path, you see? Aiming at following ME and MY PATH is nothing but chasing the shadow of someone else who is NOT YOU.

I work against myself - that I do. I teach dancers so that they can be auto-suficient and need me the least possible. I want them to SHINE on their own light instead of trying to dance on my skirt´s borderlines.

BE YOURSELVES for God´s sake. Here´s the difference between a minor teacher and a MASTER TEACHER: the first will teach you just enough to make him/her look good; the second will awaken those doors inside of you that will allow you to shine on your own right.

 

Kill your darlings. Kill your teachers. Kill your illusions. YOUR DANCE is YOUR LIFE - not somebody else´s life. I hope I can guide you on that* Journey.