What if there was no promise of gain, no promise of fame or fortune, no promise of success? What work would you do?
I was taught two things in the early 1990s as I came up in the tap dance world.
- I would have to make my own work. There would be no predetermined track for me to slot into. No career placement office, or place I could submit a job application.
- We do it because we love it. That’s a line I first heard from Gregory Hines who credited Henry LeTang for it. When I finally met Henry I got the explanation. He said, “We do it because we love it, because you’re sure not going to make a lot of money doing it.” That statement isn’t completely true, but that was his experience. And if Henry LeTang (a Tony Award winning choreographer) was saying this…
So what would you do if you had to find your way, and all that fueled the journey was love?