The Dance Primer

This is the final part of our interview with Naomi Uyama. I hope you found her as interesting and inspiring as I did:

Amberlynn: What’s the biggest challenge you have faced in dancing, and what did you do to get over it?

Naomi: Touching my toes.

Both: (laugh)

N: It took me a long time, and two years ago I finally touched my toes. Um, no, no. Ya know, in a funny round-a-bout sense it’s true, though. So ask the question again and I’ll come up with an answer.

A: Ok, what’s the biggest challenge…

N: That I have faced, or that I do face?

A: Um, either one.

N: OK. I would say not to buy into the hype of things. I think that’s a pretty big challenge. Because when you’re a beneficiary of that it can be really tempting to buy into your own hype. But then you get completely trapped in this ridiculous very tiny empire that is Lindy Hop. And then you start dancing for other people’s approval instead of your own. So, that’s hard because if you stick around long enough and you don’t dance too bad, some people will treat you differently, and it can be flattering so it can be tempting to believe it. But I think it’s a challenge to remember that the guy sitting next you on the plane doesn’t know who you are and doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about Lindy Hop, you know, it’s a very small world. So if you’re king of this small world, everyone is like, you know, whether they can triple-step well or not, everyone is really just the same. I think that’s a challenge for dancers who have been around a while and get special treatment from time to time.

A: So what do you do to stay grounded?

N: I think the best way for me to stay grounded is to not ever go on public message boards. I vowed off them four years ago and I’ve felt a lot better ever since. Remember that people’s opinions are only their opinions. And, you know, have a life outside of Lindy Hop, people that can remind you that they don’t care if you can triple-step well or not. So yeah. That and touching my toes.

So, what I was going to say earlier, was the thing about touching my toes… it was really about me taking both my dancing and the dance itself seriously. You know, giving it weight. Because pretty much everyone else out there thinks “oh you swing dance! Cute.” And they have this image of what that equals. And to not buy into that, to feel like my dance is just as good as ballet, it’s just as good as modern, it’s just as good as these other types of dances that have been mass and critically acclaimed. To know that my dance is just as valid. That was something I had to learn. And then I was like, I should be able to touch my toes! Because, I should take care of my body because I’m a dancer; instead of just messing around.

You know I used to tell people, when they said “Oh you’re a dance teacher? What dancing do you teach?” I was like, “Oh, no. I don’t do ‘real’ dancing, just swing dancing.” And I would write it off. But just saying that, just putting that into your reality, in tiny increments is negative or damaging. So learning to appreciate the value of Lindy Hop. And what I’ve done to get better at it.

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To contact Naomi to book her for teaching or performance gigs, you may contact her via email at japx2 at yahoo. Sorry, I would just make it an easy clicking link, but I don’t want her to get attacked by spam bots.

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Don’t miss the rest of Naomi’s interview! Here are parts I, II, and III and the video.