My Perfect Dance
Partner!
Barry Thorne
Scholarship: dusty reference books, long hours in libraries, speeches of extraordinary length? Those attending the first meeting of the Association of Baha'i Studies for Southern Africa in Namibia last December discovered scholarship could also involve art and performance, drama and dance. Scholarship could be entertaining as well as highly thought-provoking.
'My Perfect Dance Partner' was the title of a dance conceived by May Taherzadeh and choreographed with Jesse Fish, both of whom were aided in the performance by Shirin Taherzadeh. It was submitted to the Association for their first meeting. The piece explored the broad issue of human relationships (in marriage, in the family, in the workplace, or anywhere else), and examined the obstacles we face in getting along with one another.
In the dance-and-drama, one domineering and uncooperative dancer is persuaded to share the dance floor that he sees as his private domain with another independently minded dancer. The drama that develops uses the dance floor space as a metaphor for many things that become battlefields in ordinary everyday relationships. In common with all the best art, the piece prompts the audience to find their own understanding of the problem and of the solution. It creates a universal metaphor which anyone and everyone can identify with, and opens the way for fruitful discussion on a very personal issue.
The performance was very well received by the audience, which included youth as well as veteran scholars. The discussion that followed further explored the relationship between art and scholarship, and it was again recognized that the Baha'i writings give us a very different (and refreshing) understanding of the meaning of scholarship. To practice scholarship is the right of every Baha'i, of any age or background. Exploring serious issues through artistic work, however, may be more appealing to Baha'i youth than writing essays, not forgetting that the essay also has many benefits. The Association is therefore pioneering in its recognition of art as genuine scholarly activity.
'My Perfect Dance Partner' has since been performed to other audiences across southern Africa, and has met with repeated acclaim. It is to be hoped that it will prompt other Baha'i artists to attempt their own works of scholarship, in the very near future.