Friday, November 29, 2013

The naked family

      As I've mentioned before we dancers can be very open. We say what we think and how we feel with intimate detail. We touch each other in places usually reserved for couples in the privacy of their own homes. But where is the line exactly? If the conversations at the breakfast table about bowel movements, or the vagina lift first impression I give to guys in bars isn't enough, there's more. I believe there are two types of families. Naked families and non-naked families. The naked family is the family that is totally comfortable with being naked around each other. "Morning son!" says the father as he strolls into the kitchen ever so comfortably in his birthday suit to start making his breakfast of bacon, eggs, and sausage? Then there's the other type of family, more conservative. You saw your moms boobs when you were still young enough to call them dinner, but that's about as far as it went. In the ballet family, ours is definitely the former.
     With quick changes and costume malfunctions galore there's really no time for shame. All there is to do is strip off and hop on board. As a newbie this can be a bit intimidating. But the longer you're in the company the more open and comfortable you get with being naked around your colleagues in the dressing room. I'll never forget my first season, I was hiding in the corner in the girls changing room with a towel wrapped around my body as I tried to awkwardly with one hand hold the towel up and with the other pull down my leotard to my ankles and shimmy out of it. Meanwhile, this girl who'd been in the company for ages already, is chatting away about her taxes or the weather or whatever she was talking about, completely au naturel. As I struggled to remain covered up, I kept intense eye contact with her as to show that I was totally cool with it and was in no way going to look down south. She kept going, and as she gets more and more into her story she starts demonstrating exactly what she's talking about with grand gestures, jumps, and twirls. Still wondering where that line is? Yea, I was too.
     I got over the naked charade stories fast and embraced the nudist lifestyle in the changing room. We've all seen it before, we all have the same things. No big deal. I started to like this free spirit feeling. Until of course, the line was in fact crossed. I don't mind seeing naked girls walk around the changing room, hell, if you want to sew your pointe shoes and try them on stark-naked, be my guest (that actually happened too). But I really do not need to see ANYONE pee. Yep, one girl claiming that she's "too lazy to close the toilet stall door" decided that it was somehow OK to pee with the door wide open. I walked in on her a couple times and all she'd say was "Opps, sorry!" and look up at me like an innocent little puppy that just peed on your carpet and has no idea that it did anything remotely wrong. What are you supposed to do in that situation? There's no "code of conduct" for accidentally walking in on your work mate peeing, is there? I know we're open, artsy types of people but the line has definitely been crossed and I have now seen things that I cannot un-see!
     In a world where our bodies are our art form, where real men wear white tights instead of suits, and women pee in front of one another, the lines are blurry. But that's what makes the best stories and keeps life interesting. And gives me more material to write about. 
    

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