“I am cultured,” I told my mother upon returning from our night at the Fall For Dance Festival. This was my first time going to an event like this, and I had been unsure of what to expect at first. However, after seeing the promo for Myelination by the Dorrance Dance Company my interest skyrocketed. Of the four different performances we saw thatnight, Myelination was definitely by far my favorite.

Watching the Dorrance Dance Company perform reawakened my love for tap dancing. When I was younger, I was obsessed with River Dance, which is an Irish Step Dancing group. I discovered a DVD of one of their live performances and I would watch it every single day without fail. I even took tap dancing lessons and performed with my dance school for a few years. With time and as I grew up, I stopped tap dancing and watching River Dance and it was all but forgotten.

When we saw the promo for Michelle Dorrance’s dance company, I was immediately intrigued. It was different from the traditional tap dancing I had been more familiar with– which is what I loved about it. I particularly enjoyed how the tap dancing and music complemented one another. Neither was too overpowering, yet the dancing itself was still very captivating on its own. While the tap dancing made music, the band playing in the background gave it a more modern feeling. Just from watching the promo video I already wanted to see more.

Once we got to the New York City Center I sat patiently awaiting the world premiere of Myelination. While waiting for the performances to start I looked up the definition of myelination, which is a term used in anatomy to describe the process of forming a myelin sheath around a nerve to allow nerve impulses to move more quickly. At that moment I had no idea what anatomy had to do with tap dancing, but after watching the performance I soon understood why they had given it that name.

Myelination was an explosion of sound and movement. From the very first step to the very last I was hooked. I was so enthralled in this performance that I couldn’t even stop smiling. The way the dancers expressed themselves with their movements combined with joy written clearly all over their faces and the cohesiveness of it all made for a dynamic and exciting show. I could see how through their dances they had created a sort of myelin sheath to allow the nerve impulses to move more quickly. Their movements were explosive and powerful, and the way they were able to move so effortlessly was so beautiful. I was amazed by their talent and the undoubtedly long months they had spent preparing and practicing. The timing was so on point with all of their movements and the coordination with the band was spot on. You could tell that they really enjoyed what they were doing.

I didn’t really used to think of dance as a form of art. I saw it as entertainment or as a past time, but not really as art. As I got older and more exposed to different dance forms though, I came to understand their beauty. I thought that art was something static like a painting or sculpture; I didn’t know that the definition of art could be so fluid. Tap dancing is one of those art forms, and I appreciated how Michelle Dorrance learned the history of tap dancing and incorporated different influences into her choreography.

All in all, I do feel more “cultured” after having gone to see the ballet and the Trisha Brown Dance Company, but watching the Dorrance Dance Company was what stuck with me the most. I was tap dancing all the way to the train station that night.