Dear Dancer,
Love yourself.
When we talk , we don't mask our voices to sound like someone else. We just talk. When we are asked our names, we don't take someone else's name. We tell them our name. If you knew someone told you a different name, or changed their voice to sound different, you'd understand that clearly something is not right. Either they are lying to you or their identity is so lost, that they can't accept who they are.
I am surprised how many people do this with choreography.
Copying someone's style of movement or plagiarizing someone's choreography and mixing it with your own; these are things that are fundamentally wrong and we need to see them as so. It would be like introducing yourself with the name of your favorite dance celebrity or studio instructor.
Choreography is a planned expression of creativity. It is codifying your identity into motion. It is your movement fingerprint. Sure, other dancers have great movement and choreography, but what makes it great is the same thing that makes yours great: it is their own.
It boils down to the tools we use as artists. Painters have brushes. Musicians have instruments. Writers have keyboards. But at the end of the day, whether they loved their work or feel like never creating again, they can put their tools down.
Not dancers. Our body is the tool. We live in a reality where our identity is what we use to create. Learn to love yourself, dancer, and by doing so, you will learn to love your movement.
Live in motion,
-Joél Casanova