“Listen with your eyes as well as your ears.”― Graham Speechley
My parents listened.
I mean, they REALLY listened. To whatever I was saying, and however I was saying it.
When I was little, I would do anything artistic I could get my hands on. I’d paint pictures. I’d compose music. I’d create stories. I’d write (really terrible) poetry. I’d choreograph dances. Anything and everything even remotely artsy, I’d do.
My parents would always listen. By that, I mean they’d pay attention. They’d look for what I was actually trying to express. It went beyond “This is pretty, let’s hang it on the refrigerator.” They’d ask me about the colors in the picture, the characters in the story, the inspiration behind the poem.
From that, I learned very early on that expressing my own thoughts and feelings could take place in a myriad of ways.
And I learned that this self-expression was a beautiful thing.
So I kept doing it. I grew up and became an professional dancer and actor. Then I moved into choreography. Eventually I found the circus arts, and began directing and choreographing pieces and full-length contemporary works there.
I never realized how much my parents, through this seemingly small thing, influenced how I live my life now until recently.
Most of my job nowadays is helping kids express themselves, and giving them a platform for the world to listen.
Yes, I coach circus arts at Akrosphere, but that’s the least of what I do.
Coaching circus arts is like teaching a foreign language. You start by teaching individual words. Then you teach the students how to string those words together into little baby phrases. Then you teach how to create sentences. Then paragraphs. Then full stories, with complex feelings and emotions. Then, you teach them how to break those “grammatical rules” to really express what they want to say the way they want to express it.
The kids are talking. I just give them a new way to do it.
Kids have voices. And real thoughts. And feelings. And confusion. And all the other things adults have…they just don’t always have effective ways to deal with them. They don’t always know how to “get those thoughts out” in a positive way; in a way that can help others. Growing up knowing my voice was powerful gave me the tools I need to help other kids express themselves.
Their voices are powerful. And they are worth listening to.
Yeah…we do that here at Akrosphere.
Thank you, Mom & Dad!
PS: Want to check out what our students are saying? Go to our Streaming Page and check out the shows Four, Proprium, or Drift!
