Through the dance we learn to trust life

Through the dance we learn to trust life.

Our natural inclination is to hold our body upright. We are precarious creatures with a low centre of gravity which means we can topple over very easily – so we hold on. Unfortunately we hold on too tight which leads to rigidity in the body as we seek to protect our self. We are less inclined to take a chance, let go, lean over, hand over control…sound familiar?

The beauty of dance is that it is fluid. We invite our body to leap into taking risks. Jumping, turning and swirling we never know where we will land. This experience of letting go gives us a sense of freedom. We learn to trust our body – that we can be flexible, fluid and off balance sometimes. And it is safe to do so. It is safe to let go and it is safe to take a chance.

To further extend these experiences it’s always great to dance with someone else. In these dances we learn to trust each other – to be held and to be supported. We learn that the other can be trusted, I can be trusted, life can be trusted.

Dance is a celebration of love

 

“Love in Action” is a phrase used by many people and I think it is truly apt when it comes to dancing. At so many levels we have to be ‘in love’ when we dance. We love our self enough to celebrate and express who we are through the dance. We love the other who we invite into our dances. Dance opens the heart not only to love but to feeling. Through the dance we sensitise our self to connect again to how we are feeling. But more importantly dance encourages us to feel a deep sense of love for life itself.

In this world dominated by a focus on head-stuff we can sometimes be disconnected from our body, remembering maybe for a moment at the end of the day when we permit ourselves to feel our exhausted self. Being connected to the body through dance, we open become more in tune with how we are feeling throughout the day giving us an opportunity to modulate our life so that we don’t reach that point of exhaustion.

The cherry on top of this cake is that when we connect to how we are feeling, we don’t have to be reactive, or fall into negative patterns. When we gently allow our heart to speak we discover that we are really beings of love. We are more comfortable in life when we open to this feeling. We feel more expanded and life becomes poetically beautiful. Dance is then a celebration of life.

When you explore the love within your own life, you can start amplifying and sharing it with others. 

 Dancing to change the world, one dance at a time!

My dance emerges perfect

Have you ever hesitated to dance because you thought it was not good enough? Or maybe you just think you can’t dance? Or perhaps you say wearily, “I have two left feet!”

The truth is that we go through life believing the lies we tell ourselves, that we are less than perfect. Each and every one of us expresses our self in the world in a unique way. Each expression is valid – there is no better, no worse, no good, no bad. All is a perfect expression of our wonderful and amazing humanity.

And so every dance we create is perfect. Dancing connects us to an experience in which we have no judgement or expectation. The dance is the perfect experience in the moment. Maybe at other times, our dance will be different. But for now, the dance that emerges is perfect. The lesson we can take away from this is that really WE are all perfect. What a wonderful place from which to begin our relationship to life and each other! We dance to honour and celebrate each other and of course ultimately our self.

Dance is an out-of-body experience

The paradox of dance!

It may sound counter-intuitive to say the dance is an out of body experience yet the question really is – which body? – what experience?

Our day to day experience of life is mediated through our senses, our movements and generally, through the body. The way we interact with the world is determined by our past experiences. And, we have a strange determination to seek out that with which we are familiar with – even if it’s not necessarily what is appropriate. We repeat. We cling to habitual patterns. We inhabit a body constructed from our life story – our autobiography.

When we dance – …when we really dance – …when we really surrender into the dance, we let go of this everyday body and we experience the thrill and ecstasy of being in a different way. We leave our everyday body and hence have “an out of body experience.” Each dance is a unique experience in time – that means we have the potential to occupy unlimited bodies through the dance.

Dance teaches us about potential. Dance shows us the way. Dance allows us to experience what its like to be actively creative in the way we relate and interact with the world. We can create a whole ‘new’ body with many stories to tell.

Dancing with others brings lots of fun and pleasure (even if its the cats!)

Have you ever danced with your cat? 😀

Its sounds crazy but the other day my cat Lulu was very insistent. We were in the dance studio after a class and she just wouldn't leave me alone. I picked her up, draped her over my shoulder, and we danced. In one ear the sounds of a gentle Samba in the other her purring. Heaven in stereo; we danced together. I know she was having a good time by the depth of her claws in my back. But so was I .

I have this book I picked up in a second hand bookstore - "Dancing with Cats" It’s really one of those off-centre books … but I wonder now? Was Lulu enjoying the dance just because she is so affectionate - or have eleven years of living in a dance environment rubbed off onto her? I'll never know because when I asked her she just looked at me with her cute cat eyes which looked like they might have been saying "what do you think?", with cat resignation. (Talking with your cat is the subject of another story.)

Meanwhile this beautiful moment just highlighted the magic of a dance shared. It may be one thing to dance alone, or even with your cat, but quite another to share with a group of people in the studio. I feel blessed to share dance both online energetically but also more so now that we are back in the studio with a group of people who are prepared to dance through any situation.

Something to remember during these COVID times;

Dance comes first, people come first. Fear and anxieties need to go the back of the line.

Dance transmutes emotion

There are times in life when we feel all knotted up. This happens when we hold onto emotion, either because it feels overwhelming or because we don’t understand what is happening. Emotions are generated through changes in the body. When we are not able to ‘read’ our body, we sometimes don’t know what we are feeling – or worse, that we are feeling. Being able to check in with the sensations in our body is a good way in checking in how we are doing. At some level we are able to feel into certain situations much easier and even better that rationalising them. This intuitive way of knowing is as valid as the best thought out plans. Always balance!

When we dance we automatically are able to feeling ton what is going on in our body and carefully navigate any emotions. We transmute our emotions through dance by literally moving them. We can change our heart rate, stimulate peace and regulate our breathing through the dance opening up the possibility to shift emotions so that we are better able to address them – not bottle them up till we explode.

Dance awakens connection to the body

• Are we always aware of what is going on in our body?
• How aware are we of how we are moving?
• And, do we realise our postures and movements directly influence our experiences?

I was ‘hobbling’ across my studio the other day in pain caused by sciatica. Suddenly I realised that my body was hunched over, my movements erratic and generally I felt miserable. In a flash I decided that this has to stop NOW! I pulled myself up and shifted gears from slow shuffle to purposeful strides across the space. To cut a long story short, I have been very consciously ‘overriding’ my body for the past week and I have noticed a dramatic reduction in pain. Movement and determination have started to shift my experience – I feel the mastery of creating my own reality through my body.

This would never have been possible without the awareness of body and how it is moving and interacting with life. It seems symbolic that in the middle of my dance space I came to a realisation based on my all too sensitive connection with my body. But what a gift! This story would not have been possible without dance. How many people live life from the neck up – in their heads? How many people have limited awareness of self and their world? How many people accept life this way?

Almost evangelical in my mission, I see the difference I can make in the life of people. And what joy! To be able to dance life – not just endure it.

Dance always feels liberating

Deep down I feel that Dance has always been and always will be life-affirming. We dance for joy, we dance to celebrate, and we even dance on solemn occasions. I know from my own experience how I use to dance to free me from negative thoughts and even constricting emotions. Music and movement give me the chance to feel the freedom of choice. Either I can remain in a dark place, or I can dance myself out into the light.

Dance is liberating on so many levels.

The wonder of dance is that this experience is embodied, it is real, it is happening in this time now. It is not conceptualised as a good idea, or pocketed somewhere to be taken out and dusted at a later time.

Dance lives in the NOW, and dance liberates in the NOW – there is no waiting……

Creativity always emerges through the dance

• Do you ever know where the dance is going to take you?
• Do you ever know what will emerge once you start dancing?

My very first encounter with formal dance was through an improvisation workshop. Who would have ever imagined that the expressive flow unleashed on that day would lead to a lifetime of dance? And yet that is the amazing thing with dance – it connects us directly to our creative self allowing us to give full expression to feelings, thoughts and actions that would otherwise have lain dormant.

This is existential creativity – expression of self. We don’t need paint and canvas or chisel and stone. We ourselves are the medium of expression, we ourselves are the art! This is the wonderful lesson that dance teaches us. How to live and be our glorious self in this world!

Sometimes I even dream in 'DANCE'

I am so used to seeing the world in terms of movement and energy that I am sure that sometimes I even dream in DANCE.

Dance as a language.

Dance as a way of being.

Dance as experience.

The many layers and nuances of what is dance is a real fascination and when people say that life is a dance I fully get what they mean. I just love exploring the power and beauty that is dance.

I just have a passion for teaching dance

I love that I am able to share my own experiences based on everything I have learnt along the way in my own life. I have been so fortunate to have been exposed to some of the leading teachers, choreographers and thinkers in the world of dance – both local and international.

When I start to share I am always amazed at this accumulation of knowledge and wisdom that I have received and am able to pass on. When I see the delight and joy my teaching brings into the life of others I realise that somewhere along the line we are all a link in the beautiful chain called HUMANITY and at some level we are obliged to share what we know, so that the life of others is expanded and becomes richer.

That is the privilege of teaching.