Some Future Goals

The end of my college career is quickly approaching. Yesterday I enrolled in classes for the last time, and, while double-checking my student report to make sure that I had picked the right classes, I noticed that all of my requirements are now met. This, of course, means that I will be all set to graduate next semester. Finally!

Honestly, I am as happy as I am sad to graduate. Believe me, I know that school can be a bit of a bust sometimes, but I also love the academic world. I love being to get my hands on obscure texts and major journal articles, and I absolutely cherish having so many well-informed individuals around to bounce ideas off. After nearly 18 years in an academic environment, it will be weird to be without it.

Nevertheless, I am looking toward the future; even though I am not sure what it will bring. In fact, this has been a point of contention in my life as of late: I am not really sure what to do with myself after I graduate. I am entertaining the idea of going to graduate school, but I am not entirely sure what I would study—something in Celtic Studies, no doubt, but I am not sure exactly what path in Celtic Studies I would take. Also, I figure that, once in grad school, I won’t be able to compete in dance; there just won’t be enough time in my life to seriously apply myself to my studies and my competitive career. So, even if I do decide to go on to grad school, it’s going to be a few years before I am ready.

In the meantime, I am trying to figure out what to do with my life in the here and now. It goes without saying that dancing is an extremely important aspect of my life, and, of course, I wish to continue pursue my dance passion. It is something that I never plan to give up: I always want to be involved in dance.

In fact, it has always been a kind of dream of mine to teach dance and/or to run my own dance school. For the longest time, I had hoped that this would be teaching Irish dance. However, due to recent events (see previous posts), as well as a genuine realization that Irish dance, while I love it, is not my forte, I have had a change of heart. Yes, I would still love to teach, but now I am thinking that Highland may ultimately be the best place for me.

I know this may seem a bit rash, flip-flopping from Irish to Highland so quickly, but let me assure you that this idea has not just come about recently. It has been in my mind for a quite a while. It is just that I am now, for the first time, letting myself truly explore the breadth of this possibility. Will it work out? I don’t know. But the only way to find out is to try.

Of course, being me, if I were to wind up teaching Highland dance, I would never be happy with just providing dance instruction. After all, I truly believe that each dance is the enacting of a cultural story and history. I believe that, in order to understand the dance, you must understand that culture from which the art arises. With this in mind, then, I would plan to offer both lessons in Highland dance and in Highland culture. How I would do this is not entirely clear to me at the moment. Still, it is important to me that dancers know about and are able to talk about the history and culture that underlies their art.

In lieu of the above, I have set some goals for myself, four to be exact. I am hoping to achieve these within three years after my graduation from college. A tall order, maybe, but with honest pursuit, I think they can be done. The goals are:

1)      Learn Gàidhlig

2)      Gain control of Highland dance, in practice, theory, and knowledge

3)      Develop a broad understanding of the Highland culture(s)

4)      Visit and spend sufficient time in the Highlands so as to share in a bit of the lived experiences of the Highland peoples

A note about my second goal: This is not to mean that I expect to master Highland dance in three years, as such a task truly takes a lifetime. Rather, in three years, I hope to have developed artful control over a range of the dances as well as the general theories and history of Highland dance.

My fourth goal is perhaps the most tenuous in my mind as it requires some serious planning. For this reason, I have left it a bit vague. I am not entirely sure how to go about tackling this one, but I do think it is important actually to spend some time in the Highlands if I want to learn about the culture. As of right now, I am thinking/hoping that, perhaps, I may be able to find a Gàidhlig immersion program in the Highlands, and thus I’d be able to work towards two goals at once. Still, this will require some research and a lot of planning.

So, yeah. I am not exactly sure where my life is headed, but I am hoping that working towards these goals will at least give it some direction. If not, at least I’ll have learned something and maybe even have had a bit of fun along the way :-)

And now, a song: