Sukha and Dukha: Effort and Ease in Dance and #DanceLife

"Werk werk werk werk!" – everybody's saying it, even Rihanna. Dancers are certainly all too familiar with such "work harder, faster, longer, stronger" messages. On the other hand, there's a lot of discussion out there right now about rest, self-care, and giving less effort (in many ways needed discussion, I think).

Notwithstanding these two extremes, yoga and its sister sciences teach us that balance is the key. Balance creates harmony, joy, and fulfilling movement towards our goals. That balance doesn't just arise out of nowhere. Yoga teaches us that a mix of dukha (effort, challenge) and sukha (ease, sweetness) get us to balance – akin to how yin and yang together create harmony and cohesion.

How can dancers balance duhka and sukha, and why should that be a goal to which they pay mind (when there are many other ways to reach towards growth, and it can all feel like a lot of work)? Let's take a deeper dive: concerning dance technique and artistry, balancing dance and other aspects of life, and looking to longer-term goals and #dancelife direction.

Effort and Ease in Dance Technique and Artistry

Some personal sharing might facilitate understanding here. I'm a naturally very muscular person, and my muscles totally ruled the show (no pun intended) when I was a beginning dancer. Certain technique was extremely difficult for me, even as other things came fairly naturally, because my muscles were firing away and gripping for dear life.

I then went to college for dance, and learned a postmodern school of movement thought called release technique – and, over time, it made a huge difference in my technique. On one level, I appeared (and felt) more easeful and integrated. On another, without so much muscular firing and gripping, momentum could help my joints make the technique at hand happen far more easily.

I'm still working on release – particularly in technique that still really challenges me (oh hi petit allegro!). Yet looking back, finding ease and sweetness in my dancing – sukha – made my dancing advance light-years. Have I abandoned dukha? Not at all – grand allegro, or a quick and athletic contemporary phrase, wouldn't happen successfully for me (at some level) if I did! I've said it before, and I'll say it over and over, dear dancing readers and friends: it's about balance.

I'll share another personal anecdote to demonstrate how this idea plays out when it comes to artistry. Right along with very muscular and athletic dancing, I've always given 500% in my performing. That's eased a bit in recent years, as I've grown as an artist.

Yet a revelation arose for me recently as I watched a professional dancer's solo. She offered so much soulfulness, so much meaning, and so much technical command even while – it was clear – she wasn't giving everything. Her reaches could have been bigger and her leaps higher, but that wouldn't have served the work at hand as much.

Minus her pushing it to 12 out of 10, I could see her as a person as well as her character shining through. It wasn't all about the "wow" of her athleticism, and because of that such meaning and honesty could truly resonate. I still have a far way to go when it comes to sometimes leaving the audience wanting more (as the saying goes, and I think another great way to think about this dynamic) – but deep, truly felt awareness is the first step to growth.

As with finding ease and sweetness in technique, does that mean that – as I work towards that more easeful, thoughtful artistry – I'll abandon giving it my all completely? No, not at all. Balance, balance, balance.

In both technique and artistry, how do we find balance between effort and ease? Discernment and continuing learning can be extremely helpful, helping us to take context and important specifics into account as we make choices in craft and art-making.

Acceptance and non-attachment can also be incredibly meaningful here, allowing us to get out of fixed, inflexible mindsets ("this is how it's always been," "I learned it this way, so that's how it is," "doing it this way has gotten me this far, so I'm not changing it," and the like).

Sukha and Dukha in the larger scope of #dancelife

Beyond singular experiences in the studio, on stage, or wherever you may dance, balancing sukha and dukha can (along with a mindful approach in other respects) put you on the path to a fulfilling, equanimous life in dance. For instance, of course it’s important to go to class consistently and cross-train. Yet – as I will be a continuously broken record saying – we also need rest and time away from dance in order to be the best artists we can be, in a sustainable way.

So, get to class once or more a week, but also take time to nurture your brain, your friendships, and other interests that your heart, mind and soul call you to. This is balancing dukha – working hard as a dancer to continually grow – and sukha – care and ease for yourself as a whole person (beyond “dancer”).

In an even broader scope, we can see striving towards our goals as artists as a form of dukha. We need that to have a vision for ourselves, to have something to work towards. Yet the sukha here is savoring each moment along the way, and accepting wherever it may lead. We need that as well – because otherwise, why work so hard if we’re not enjoying it? Joy, acceptance, and pure love of what we do – and allowing ourselves to feel all of those things – only makes us stronger artists, not to mention more pleasant and fruitful to work with.

In a deeper sense, without dukha there would be no sukha – or at least we wouldn't be able to appreciate it as such. With all of the hard work and uncertainty of the creative life comes those sweet moments that make it all worth it. Those moments might in part feel so sweet because of the challenge.

Both matter, and both make up this crazy life in dance that we love. Effort and ease in a dancing body: we love to see it, and we love to feel it. Effort and ease in a larger dance life: we love to live it, and we love to share it. Let’s go create, and live, with effort and ease!

All images courtesy of Canva