Exit 12: Moved by War
Keep your finger off the trigger and do not point the rifle at anyone you don’t intend to shoot. This is great advice coming from a US Marine Veteran who has uses dancing to reprogram his mind in order to deal with anger, depression, and anxiety.
Roman Baca didn’t grow up wanting to be a dancer. He wanted to become an engineer or to study something that involved math. At the end of highschool he began taking dance lessons and loved being on stage. He still didn’t see dancing as a career because his goal was to make an impact and help others. This led him to the recruiter’s office where he signed up to join the US Marine Corps.
People have this idea that Marines are larger than life human machines who are willing to kick down any door in order to get the job done. Marines are trained to be aggressive, but in Roman Baca’s case, they were living among civilians whom they had to interact with. This made it hard to be aggressive and compassionate at the same time.
When he returned from Iraq, his anger started escalating out of control. That’s when his wife asked him what one thing would he choose to do if it had the power to make him happy. His response was that he would open a dance company. So they did.
The competition is fierce in New York for a small dance company, but this one is different. It tries to bring military families into the room to tell their stories.
The dance company now does more than just performances. It also offers veteran workshops, which help these men and women transform their negative experiences and move on with their lives. The movement of their bodies offers a liberating energy that releases a lot of the built up anger and pain.
The effects of war on an individual are as massive as they are diverse. Every story is different and most of them are not being told neither heard. Watch this thought-provoking film now.
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