(Video link here.) When Amy Schoening told us about her friend and teacher Alonso King, founder of Lines Ballet, we went right to a video she made about him. King is clearly a transformative teacher, the kind of person we’d love to have as a mentor. His teachings about dance and movement are really teachings about life…its essential principles: being honest, generous, fearless in expressing your true self.

King sees his mission as a teacher as “waking up the sleeping artist in the student. The dancer is listening to his own internal teacher, and that’s what you want to wake up.” 

Waking up our internal teacher…

We started to transcribe some the video but gave up – there were too many powerful quotes. Our favorite is King talking about the huge wall of mirror that is so much a part of Western ballet (and life). “For the most part the mirror is doubt, and doubt leads to failure.”

We hope to meet this man someday.

Thanks Amy!

Related posts: a dance lesson from zorba + anthony quinn
elizabeth streb on the necessity of risk-taking
the ten principles of burning man (and life in general?)
lynda barry’s ‘what it is’ (+ being your creative self)
what would happen if you took a dance break?
sidewalk wisdom: yes we can (dance…anywhere)

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One thought on “lines ballet’s alonso king: waking up our internal teacher

  1. My husband, James took ballet lessons with Alonzo many years ago, and used to give him a ride home on his motorcycle. We go see his company performances all the time here in San Francisco. He is a local icon, and his shows are really great. Some are more successful than others – like the collaborations between the ballet dancers and the Pygmies, and then the Shaolin monks….always fun!

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