I am a person, a colleague, and a dancer. My work is usually to help a choreographer create his craft by lending the knowledge of dance and movement stored in my mind and body. Also, a part of that deed is to bond with my colleagues to feel like one organism moving through the black box.
What do I give to myself by doing this?
What do I give to others?
I guess among many things the one that sticks out to me the most is emotion.
I work to feel emotion and to give emotion.
But this time I do not write to express about dance. Today I write about a thought that made me ashamed of myself. It was a normal day, one of many days that I woke up, enjoyed breakfast with Lydia and then took the bike to go to work. I arrived and crossed paths with Marisol, she is part of the cleaning team of the theater.
Marisol
She is always kind, even when tired, even when she is frustrated. In over eight years I have worked in the theater, she has never denied me a smile, a good morning, a goodbye, or a “Rubén que tengas buen día”.
That day was not different; she asked me how I was doing with warmth, and I replied that I was tired and that it was a difficult season. She smiled and cheered me up to have a nice day. As I was leaving her behind, I remembered that Marisol had stayed working when I left the theater the night before, and she was already back to work when it was so early.
Immediately I felt so stupid; how did I think the theater could always be so organized and clean? How were the studios ready for me to dance every morning? By art of witchcraft?
I guess I knew there was a team doing that, and I knew Marisol’s work was that. So I knew it, but I never dug into that thought.
From that day on, I started to feel bad or uncomfortable for taking something so simple yet vital for granted. Marisol’s work is so hard, yet I barely thought about it.
How is it possible that I don’t even know how many people are on the cleaning team? Who are they?
How could I make them invisible in my mind if I see them almost every day of my life?
I kept feeling restless about that thought and decided I had to find a way to thank them. Apart from dancing, I like to tell stories through film, but lately, I also enjoy photography, so why not freeze those moments in time that we should feel so thankful for? Why not share a day with them and my camera? Why not ask them how they go through a season in the theater? Why not find out how many are and what their names are?
So I did it today, the 10 of January. I woke up at 5:30 and met Marisol at 6:30; when she started to work, she introduced me to her colleagues, and I followed them with my camera and took some photos. At the same time, they told me a bit about them. Here are a few images of the parkour they do to keep our theater, the house of dreams, clean and ready for when the artists and audience come.
Their names are, Marisol, Werner, Milena, Dragana, and Samanta.
If I wasn’t aware in the past of what your daily effort gave us, I do now.
My sincere gratitude to you and all the good people that makes our lives easier without getting applause when their job is done.