Thank You, Erik. I began a comparison of dance and martial arts at a
surface level talking about technique and expression of technique at
different levels of proficiency. I feel that I am not so much a
beginner at using dance technique for improvisation. Years of
technique classes in ballet, modern, contact improvisation, and
other forms have sort of congealed into free form expression at this
point in my life. I can go back and dance a specific type of dance,
but I prefer to move more freely.

"but it seems to me that the mindset/intent would be quite
different"

Yes, absolutely, but both require learning technique. Learning
technique can not be done without thinking about what you are doing,
thus putting the mind into it.

With regards to intent in gung fu, I believe you put your mind into
the movement in different ways at different times. In the beginning
I am suggesting only that you have to think a lot about technique.
Once you can think less about where your limbs and trunk are going,
you start thinking more about developing power when you move, and
how mind and body are involved in achieving powerful, intentional
force. But this is a different discussion.

I think it is really important to distinguish between outcomes.

The outcome of `dance' for me is not performance (in fact I prefer
to dance alone and don't like performing). What I get from dance
that I haven't gotten to the same degree in any other movement thus
far is an expression of energy from within me. I can only describe
it as my body feeling fully of life and energized, or electrifying,
adrenaline kick. I like to exert myself and build this experience,
without any particular intent.

I am a good dancer because I draw from ability in technique and from
the experience described above. I don't dance with the intent to
look good to others, perform technique well, or anything like that.
When I dance, I feel completely free. I never imagined that this is
what I would find in dance, but there it is.

Do I think that dance hinders me in learning gung fu? Hah. This is
tough. The way I `feel my dance' is distracting from my ability to
start fresh in gung fu I guess. I crave the ability to `get it' the
way I get my dancing, but I am not there yet. That's frustrating.

I am certainly only a beginner in gung fu. Martial artists move with
different purpose than dancers do. I can't say I want to ever be in
a position to have to use gung fu. Every movement is an attack on
another being. Why would I want to learn to do that? Well, I don't
want to attack anyone. I'd certainly like to be able to defend
myself, and yet that alone is not why I do gung fu. With technique,
you learn how to use your body in specific situations. You study
movement with specific intent. I want to learn more about the
internal aspect of gung fu. *Gung fu has captured my spirit.* I
really enjoy the growing bond with my classmates (and miss it being
in Boston and away from the school). I like pushing myself to be
stronger. I like doing the technique well. There is so much. I'm
just seeing where it goes from here. Whew. Hope that addresses your
question. I'm still trying to understand this.