On P90X vs Modern Dance

One of my new colleagues was a modern dancer in his previous life.  He and his childhood friend both trained at Alvin Ailey before dancing with other companies in New York and Paris and have now returned home to Haiti.  The friend has a dance company here that is the main source of income for the troupe - a rare thing.  They perform once a month.  I went to their pre-Carnaval show last night.

The space consisted of a small stage outside with a corrugated metal roof and some folding chairs for the audience.  When the show opened, the dancers were dressed in some homemade "folkloric" costumes with colorful prints of the map of Haiti and hand painted fruit. Simple stuff.   But from the first, the dancing was arresting, both in terms of how much fun the dancers seemed to be having, but also in terms of the level of energy:  The dancers never stopped.  It was the most unpretentious choreography I have ever seen. Not once did anyone throw themselves on the floor or pretend to run full tilt at someone only to be gently cradled like a baby.  None of that.  There was lots of hip rotating and jumping and even a Ra Ra band at the end.

I'm on week 8 of P90X, a 12 week exercise program that is hard enough that it may take me a few years before what I'm doing vaguely resembles what the people in the DVD are doing.  So, you know, I feel like I'm working pretty hard.  But these dancers never stopped moving.  I kept thinking about how much they must have to eat to keep that up.  I was impressed that they managed to lift their arms for the final bow.  And guess what?  After that two hour show, they were to head immediately to another venue to dance for one of the presidential candidates!