Everyone has Something to Teach, Everyone has Something to Learn
E2T 90 Day Letting Go Experiment Day 3 ~ American Contemporary Skating Festival Experience
There’s a sound that a high-level skater makes as they move around the rink; It’s a combination of their blades cutting deeply into the ice and the wind that they create. There’s an energy to a skater who’s spent their life perfecting the art of skating, competing, and performing, and then possibly coaching. They step on the ice with purpose; a seriousness, get to work expression on their face. They don’t doubt their ability, they only seek more.
The moment someone like me, who started later in life, sees a high-level skater’s seriousness, we know we’ll be moving to the side often during the session. The only way to describe the speed you not only see but feel as it moves past you, is that one day I watched another skater take one step and suddenly he was across the ice, his pants making a flapping noise in the wind.
It’s intimidating.
Honestly, they don’t even see the intimidation. They’ve been on the ice since they were three-years-old. Moving around a rink at speed is no different to them than walking through a busy train station. In fact, it may be more comfortable for them to be on a crowded freestyle session than to be walking in foot traffic. They tend to fly on blades more than walk through towns.
Then there’s me. I’ve spent my years skating on empty rinks, oftentimes having the ice to myself. My biggest fear is anyone coming close to me, probably because I’ve been injured by near collisions and have had a few collisions due to someone not looking.
I like my safety space.
On day three of my letting go experiment, I decided I wanted to experience the American Contemporary Ice Festival. Figure skating is all about technique and accomplishing the hardest jumps, spins and footwork, but when Kate McSwain (the founder of the festival) moves, she creates shapes and contemporary dances that are unlike anything you see in competitions. For years, her style has intrigued me, and I decided to be a big brave dog and go to a festival I felt would be way above my level.
I waited in line to register and noticed everyone had the figure skating look: hair in a bun, long lean lines to their bodies, and black tights with figure skating jackets. They all walked with the confidence that the rink was their home. I curled inward remaining quiet.
The moment we took to the ice everyone was moving with speed, warming up their bodies. There had to be fifty people on the ice and my fear rose. What was I doing here?
Then they brought us together in a circle, and Kate spoke, “Everyone has something to teach. Everyone has something to learn. It doesn’t matter your age, your weight, your level, your experience. This weekend you’re all here to be part of this experience. I invite you to let go of your judgments, your fears, and to just allow what can take place for you.”
This was so beyond typical figure skating. There were no goals for the weekend. No competition. We were to move together and learn from one another.
The first exercise began and we lined up against the wall for class. The idea was to skate across the ice in lines contracting and expanding in the four directions our spine can move.
If you’ve ever put on a pair of skates and realized that the blades had rules to how they moved, you know that most skating remains with your core securely over your feet, shoulders on top of hips. To move in an orbit away from the center can be scary.
Everyone started moving fast and with precision. I was surrounded by high level skaters just inches from me. One wrong move and we’d trip each other into a domino effect. Please don’t let it be me, I thought.
With each progression of moves I wondered if I should go to a back line so I wouldn’t slow people down. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do the move at speed, in fact I have a lot more speed than I was utilizing, but the closeness of others terrified me. My judgement of my abilities was in my way.
The next exercise began and we spread across the ice. One person would start a movement and everyone had to follow until someone started a new one. Skaters began weaving and moving, stopping and flying all around me. I found a corner to hide keeping myself small. I’d always followed choreography, or a specific plan to move, and they were asking me to create my own movement. Shyness pulled me into my thinking brain.
Everywhere skaters played. They tried crazy movements I’d never seen done. They experimented with their bodies, they were free to make mistakes and you could see the joy on their faces.
As we continued to play, I became a little braver. What if I tried to incorporate my salsa dancing into my skating? What if I just let go? I moved into the swarm of skaters. From every angle people were moving towards me or away. Let go and just allow, I thought. So, what if you crash and fall. So, what if you look ridiculous. So, what to everything.
In that moment, for the first time in my years of training, the skater I’ve always wanted to be found her way home. I moved in crazy patterns I’d never tried. I did things with my blades I didn’t know I could.
My shyness and feelings of inadequacy of being in this group of elite skaters disappeared. I realized no one was judging me for my ability, they were all just living their passion.
I lost my fear of skating close to other people, and by the end of the night I wasn’t hiding, but enjoying being in the mix. When we had to do group movement, I brought in body rolls from salsa and my group loved the movement.
It really is in the letting go of our judgments against ourselves or what we believe people are thinking, that we find out that each person has something to teach and something to learn. It’s in releasing the need to do something “right” that we find our freedom to express who we are in our own unique way.
The final part of the night, Adam Blake, a phenomenal choreographer said, “We are innately creative. We need to express. The gift we all have that we get to put on these crazy looking shoes with metal attached to them, and then be allowed to fly, should never be held back by what we’re supposed to do or how someone says we should move.”
In what way can you let go today? In what way can you learn from another or teach something someone else needs to learn?
We are a community of humans moving through this world. We all have something to teach we all have something to learn, and if we could let go of our judgements and share our innate gifts would our world become a more open and loving place?
