This paper analyzes Elisabeth Bergmann's personal essay "Dancing My Passion," published in Harvard's ReVista journal in 2007. It examines how Bergmann transformed her love of dance into a vehicle for cultural exchange, teaching, and human connection — particularly during her Fulbright scholarship experience in Trinidad and Tobago. The paper explores how Bergmann defies the stereotype of the self-centered artist by using dance as a universal language that bridges diverse communities. It also considers the relationship between personal passion, artistic development, and cross-cultural understanding, arguing that Bergmann's greatest contribution lies not on the stage but in her commitment to sharing dance with others.
Elisabeth Bergmann's article "Dancing My Passion" is quintessentially a confession about a woman's capacity to transform her passion for work into art. In this article, Bergmann draws the portrait of a woman who is not only passionate about dancing, but also about a country — Trinidad and Tobago — and about teaching. Most of all, Bergmann appears to be passionate about diversity in her fellow human beings.
As an artist, she developed a career in dancing and teaching that led her through many places and offered her the occasion to meet diverse people and communities. Her ability to communicate with others and her passion for dancing allowed her to create dance courses for her students that encouraged them to use dance not only as a form of self-expression, but also as a means to know the world and the people around them. Bergmann thus offers a new and interesting perspective on how one might use one's skills and passions to discover entirely different worlds.
Elisabeth Bergmann appears to be one of those people whose passion for art and work is so strong that it led her to overcome any obstacle interfering with her thirst for a life driven by those passions. These passions, doubled by hard work, determination, and most of all by her love of people, allowed her to develop as an artist, a teacher, and a lover of creativity.
The author's passion for dance surpasses an artist's love of expression on stage, with or without an audience. She is clearly driven by two additional passions: her desire to teach others and her love of diverse cultures. Dance education, as Bergmann practices it, becomes a vehicle for cultural discovery rather than mere technical instruction. Trinidad offered her the opportunity to interact with people who shared her love of art and to exchange experiences and knowledge with them.
Art and culture are, according to Bergmann, the two central pillars in the lives of the people of Trinidad and Tobago, and as an artist passionate about both, she immersed herself in their world. She found them "comfortable within themselves and happy to be contributing members of their society" (Bergmann, 2007), in spite of social and economic inequities.
The opportunity to be surrounded by a whole population that shares one's passion is rare. Bergmann counts herself among those fortunate enough to have earned a Fulbright scholarship that gave her the possibility to live and work among the people of Trinidad and Tobago. This experience proved transformative not only for her artistic practice, but for her understanding of what dance can accomplish across cultural boundaries.
"Challenging the self-centered artist stereotype"
"Origins of Bergmann's outward-facing artistic practice"
The lesson Bergmann confesses to have learned through her passion is that one can only benefit from being interested in others, in differences. Just as those who love traveling often acknowledge that they appreciate the opportunity to learn about themselves through their journeys, so too does Bergmann appreciate the power of discovering new facets of one's humanity in the eyes and art of foreign cultures. She is clearly an artist who has surpassed the boundaries of a single passion; she is beyond her love of dancing, and she works and acts in the name of her passion for people.
You’re 56% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 2 sections.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.