Working Through Our Miscommunication

One of the hardest challenges to nurturing a community is keeping the channels of communication open. Sounds easy to do, but it's hard to execute. Take a hypothetical situation: you organize a group of people of different ages, social and economic backgrounds, and ethnicities. Each person brings his own bias, baggage, and worldview to the table. It takes level-headed leaders to moderate such a discussion. It takes even more resolve to build a community from it. Miscommunication - that prickly thing which happens when we misread each other's cues - plagues us every day.

It's a natural human phenomenon. At the root of all online disputes on dance forums and Youtube comment pages is miscommunication. This breeds misunderstanding. We're not designed to move as one homogenous unit. We have our individual quirks that make living with each other complicated. Sometimes, it's unbearable. But the opposite seems even worse: to live isolated lives so separate from each other that we are doomed to our lonely existence. So we still seek each others' company and ideas even if it leads to arguments. We don't want to be alone.

Miscommunication doesn't necessarily need to be avoided. It just has to be managed. Good ideas can come out of miscommunication. Great ideas can emerge when they are guided by a visionary. It's all about your frame of reference. We all have a frame of reference by which we judge the world. Sometimes, we need to listen well to each other to compare our frames of reference. That way, we can cut through the hurtful kind of miscommunication which has negatively affected our culture. A visionary can help others find common ground with a shared frame of reference, which can also be inspired by their individual perspectives.

When we talk about history, foundation, and aesthetics; miscommunication is always lurking around the corner. Without extensive historical documentation available to the greater masses, our street dance culture is very prone to miscommunication. And we're facing mainstream media who portray dancers with familiar stereotypes. Can the scholars and documentarians within our street dance culture take a stand? Can they make a united front to help clear the air about different aspects of our community? That's a place to start if we hope to grow freely without being shackled by miscommunication.