Perfection: Thousand-Hand Dance

The video in hand shows the performance of a dance called “Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva”. It is one of the best examples of a successful teamwork manifesting perfection, precision, creativity, synchronization, and above all, strong will and challenge. These qualities are, unfortunately, forgotten by many especially in the era of quick action and materialistic values. However, they are crucial and need to be developed a great deal if a community actually seeks development.

 

When I first saw this dance, I was amazed and impressed. So I decided to share it with you. But when I searched the internet for further information about the show, I learned that this is a Chinese show (again) and the dancers are handicapped (again and again). Astonishingly enough, these 21 young dancers are DEAF! I neither intended to look for handicapped nor Chinese dancers, but this show can not be ignored. As I don’t want to repeat what I already wrote on the post “Handicapped Societies” (on http://abcdevelopment.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/handicapped-societies-en/ ) , I tried to extract new lessons from this one. However, it seems that it is destined to extract lessons from handicapped Chinese dancers for the second time J. It is worth mentioning that I am not biased towards or against anyone, but, undoubtedly, great work deserves to be highlighted regardless of all other aspects.

 

This is a dance performed in 5:57 minutes (three seconds less than 6 minutes). Yet, it took the wonderful team presenting it countless hours of work to prepare for it in such an amazing and organized way. Preparations include music composition, music selection, clothes, accessories, choreography, stage décor, logistics, training, and rehearsals.

 

I have always learned to enjoy and imagine the whole but also to give time for its analysis and division into its components to see how it is made possible. Consequently, while watching this video, I tried to analyze the wonderful show thinking of the indispensable elements and qualities that made it possible:

1. Perfection: Perfection only comes from hard work and the will to do the work perfectly. It is the criterion that makes things memorable and eternal. Hundreds of dances are performed everyday, but how many of them are remembered…forever?!! Only the very few perfect ones are.
2. Precision: Dancers are almost all of the same size, movements are well organized, and angles of each movement for each person are well calculated so that no one steps out of the line and no hand spoils the “drawing” by moving slower or quicker than the planned speed. The 21 dancers are standing exactly behind each other appearing as one person with “a thousand hands”. We don’t notice the numerousness unless the camera shots the line from the side.    
3. Creativity:

The first step of creativity is imagination. Not only that good imagination is a gift from God, but it is also an acquired skill. As I believe, we need to have a will to imagine and create new things in order to have the ability to do that. No one can be creative if they don’t wish to do new things or do things in a new way. In my opinion, the best way to be creative is to be an attentive observer. A good tool is watching the universe: the sky, stars, sunset, sunrise, sea, different creatures sharing this planet with us, and millions of other things, colors, and relations. We can see the colors, changes, figures, glory, and marvels. Another tool is to open our eyes to the world and others’ experiences and see how we can merge different things together so that we don’t reinvent the wheel.

      In this video, I can see a very strong effect of the sea. The colors and some movements in the first few minutes remind me of the goldfish. Some other movements give the feeling of swimming. The idea of large group synchronization is similar to that of fish groups moving together as one body with different parts. The last “portrait” makes the dancers look and move like a caterpillar.

      We can also see that every second we can take a “snapshot” or “portrait” of a new, beautiful, and perfectly drawn picture. 

1. Synchronization: One of the most difficult tasks is to synchronize the performance of several elements to work together in harmony. The more the elements (here dancers) involved in the task, the more difficult it gets. In this dance, there are 21 dancers moving together in perfect harmony giving the impression that they are in fact one body. Moreover, to start in a line is difficult, but to go back to the same perfect line after spreading all over the place with such a large group of dancers is much more difficult.
2. Preserving culture: Anyone can tell that this is an Asian dance. More specifically, Chinese. Not just because the dancers have Asian faces, but everything else can tell this: the clothes, the music, the choreography, and the colors.
3. Challenge: As I mentioned earlier, these dancers are deaf. When they thought of doing something useful, they could have been artists of visual arts like paintings or sculptures, poets, or any other profession not requiring the sense of hearing. But in that case, the challenge would not have been strong enough. In this dance, we notice the beats that were used as signals for the dancers to organize their steps in the next position.
4. Teamwork: Everyone of the team knows perfectly well their role, is well trained to perform it, and very well recruited. No one steps into someone else’s job just to show that they know better. Everyone is certain that they will all be outstanding only if the whole project is, and they will not be anything unless they are all parts of a whole. Moreover, from the name of the dance “Thousand Hand” and the first minute of the show, we can clearly visualize the effect of team work; i.e. obtaining a thousand hands instead of two for the same body.

 

And this is how strong communities are built…..

 

I wish you a great time watching the video: Enjoy and … think! 

[Via http://abcdevelopment.wordpress.com]