What´s going through my head right now #34

"THE STRUGGLE FOR COMPETENCE"

Last Friday, Aretta Hakios, the director of the Joy of Dance Academy, and I had a podcast session with Cécile Baumann. During the session, we presented our new training and continuing education programs. It struck me how often terms like experience, knowledge, competence, and craftsmanship came up. All terms meant to make an impact and demonstrate a high level of expertise and skill.

What value do these terms still hold? To what extent do these aspects matter to potential participants? Is it more about the cool factor and promotional appeal of social media presence, or do interested parties explicitly research the content, curriculum, leadership, and instructors? Do many people even recognize the value and work that goes into it? The years of uninterrupted work, with all its ups and downs, the constant development, and the critical reflection?

When I look at my resume, I’m quite amazed at everything that has accumulated over forty years, everything that’s in my backpack. Much of it is within easy reach, sometimes buried a little deeper. But always accessible. It’s not a copy-and-paste job, nothing I’ve simply acquired. Everything has been experienced firsthand, evaluated, implemented, and analyzed time and again.

And then there’s this discrepancy in the various perspectives on these achievements.

Because I’m approaching sixty. I’m a man, and I’ve had to realize on multiple occasions  that this often serves as more of an obstacle than a gateway. The younger generation’s attitude toward their elders is not always clear. The tendency to question the achievements of older generations or to distance oneself from them is pervasive. Maturity and insight are often equated with conservatism. Progressiveness is either denied or simply not credited to them. The fact that artists, even in dance, still want to develop beyond the age of fifty, constantly question themselves, and incorporate these questions into their artistic work is dismissed as if it were no longer relevant. One is almost denied the ability to make a difference here in any way (and to truly want to—why should one?). Now is the time for young, new faces who have the courage to plunge into the adventure of seeking meaning in the art of dance. Aha!

It sounds very whiny and hurt right now. And certainly there are moments when it doesn’t feel good and I’d love to let out a scream and call those responsible to account. But that usually passes as quickly as it came. Because there are plenty of people and artists who recognize and appreciate what I’ve achieved and created, and what I’ve imparted over all these years. No one can take that away from me, and that’s precisely why I remain calm.

Maybe it’s just that simple: competence doesn’t need validation to be real. It lies in the work, in the people you’ve accompanied and taught over the decades, in the creations that have emerged despite everything. Shoving a page-long résumé and a tediously long list of all your achievements in people’s faces just to prove yourself is more like a justification tactic that usually backfires and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

The younger generation will find its own path—and that’s a good thing. But whoever looks back one day and asks where the foundation they stand on comes from will find an answer. Our programs are part of that. No pretensions, no competition—just an offer. From someone who knows their craft.

Yours Jochen, sincerely