Ilana Werner
«Before a child talks, they sing. Before they write, they draw. As soon as they stand, they dance. Art is fundamental to human expression.» (Phylicia Rashād)
This is the basic principle of my ideal world. Dancers and artists are too often discredited in general. Their achievements and their existence are judged as beautiful but ultimately obsolete and they tend not to be valued very highly. In my ideal world, the performing arts would be an integral part of a child’s education and upbringing. Just as we recognize and respect a mathematician since we all studied mathematics in school and therefore understand this profession, each person in our society should respect dancers and their achievements and appreciate their absolute necessity for our spiritual welfare. This would be achieved by ensuring children grow up with this and by enabling it to become the absolute norm in our life. These innate artistic forms of expression which we instinctively share through body language should be continuously encouraged and promoted from an early age and the benefits should also be recognized in other forms of education. Perhaps then there would less of a need for the fierce struggle against theatre closures and funding cuts? The task here is to help society find its soul.