Dance like no one's watching is a phrase that bothered me. It still bothers me a little, although a little less these days, perhaps because I dance in my socks in the kitchen less. Dance like no one's watching is about evoking a kind of freedom, but it is a very lonely and individualistic freedom. Little kids will dance with wild abandon, but they will also ask, demand attention while they dance. Perhaps dance like no one is judging is a better turn of phrase. Either way I think it's an incomplete description of the creative process, what rewards and sustains us creatively as well as whole humans. No one answer is enough, being isn't a simple formula, and I guess as an extremely literal small person I found the idea that "Dance like no one's watching," incomplete and against that very primal desire to be seen.

Anyway, keep creating and being in a multitude of ways. It is in our multitude and complexity that we can have a simple resonant voice.

Transcript

Draw like no one's watching.

Draw like you are seen.

Draw like it could save a life.

Draw because it's play.

Draw to speak hidden truths.

Draw to be silly and have fun.

Draw to meet a deadline.

We are what we practice.

Without practice there is no voice.

And we were made to sing in many keys.