Dance is...

What Dance Means to Me

In every movement we have form, structure, and meaning. Some movements have become ingrained, automatic responses, to everyday stimuli, that don’t require dedicated focus. Sitting, lying, eating, walking or brushing our teeth can be considered automatic since we do them everyday and put little conscious thought into them, after they have been learned. The sequence of movements that are to be categorized as essential, get us through the day, and without them we could not function. Yet we take those movements for granted, by not giving them acknowledgement, gratitude, or sufficient attention. It is as if they are less important in the spectrum of movement.

Some might say that if we were to put all our attention, wholly into sitting, lying, walking, eating or brushing our teeth, with every breath and muscle used, we would get very little else done. We could not devote our time to the more noble movements. Instead we know that with repetitive motion, our muscles have learned to perform actions with ease and very little present concentration, allowing our bodies to do more in the day. That is what it means to grow. When at some point, something took our whole attention and concentration, through practice, we have gained a level of proficiency and therefore need less time and exertion to receive the benefits of the motion.

So what are considered noble movements? For me, it is any form that requires my concentration, focus on breath, making new synaptic connection and feeling my muscles and bones. But it is more than physical and biological growth. Noble movements mean to me that they have a meaning bigger than the act itself, as well. I have found many physical activities to fit into both categories, but one has the form and potential to connect me somewhere deeper than any other.

Dance is like the universal language of expression. Everything moves and gyrates, in time, sometimes out of time, and sometimes in stillness, with the cycles of the earth, sun and moon, inhaling and exhaling into one large dance container. Simply, dance is life, and life is to dance. As James Lovelock, a British Scientist who developed The Gaia Theory puts it “life (and dance) is one of those processes which are found whenever there is an abundant flow of energy.” He continues by saying, “it also suggests that life-like processes require a flux of energy above some minimal value in order to get going and keep going.”

We are energy bundles, as long as we have heat in our bodies we are moving, but in order to get us dancing, we must have some push out of inertia. The push can be the simple intention of rising every morning (and following the same sequence of steps through out the day) or branching out of set patterns, to explore and express historical forms, movements, and stories.
I did not however say that movement is the universal language of expression. Although I do believe that all movements can potentially become a dance, I do not think we have attained such beauty just yet. To compare a person’s first movements, getting out of bed to an arabesque after sufficient warm up and training, is diminishing the later into the former. It would be denying the stark diversity in the form, and grouping it brutally into equality. No all movements are not the same, just like all languages are not the same.
So what am I getting at? All living things are dancing, yet all people do not dance? Yes. Specifically, it is why I dance, and why dance for me is my connection to life. Every committed step I take towards dance, I move closer to the essence of life itself. The breath the connection, the sinking in and sinking down into my roots, into my history into the history of life. We must not deny the fire and energy swirls within us. We must not atrophy our bodies and spirits by confining and limiting their movements, their dance, their connection to the life force.
As with everything that exists, we must also acknowledge the variety, specifics and specialness of form as well. There is history and art fused into the dance, along with nature and the currents of time. There is a blend of culture and tribesman within us, but much, much more than that too. We have the ocean, the rivers, the grasses and bison. We have the gazelles and hawks, as well as the miniature critters and microbial forms within us. They are all there, just like they are grounded up into the rock faces, mountains, or savannas too.

These living forms express themselves as they are, when they exist. They dance their dance. They live their lives.

And we humans? What do we do? We, who have so much potential and ability to self actualize. What do we do? Well, many of us sit on the couch, in a chair, on the toilet, we sit and wait. I sit while I write this paper. And yes, many of us move in some form or another we call exercise, which is essentially dance, just sterilized and disconnected from the mysterious pulse of life. But, that is just the sequential steps of our modern history. Our long ago ancestors, as well as the indigenous people today, whether they are cloaked in modern clothes or still living with the land, knew and know the connection, what dance is.

I am always amazed when I bump into that life affirming tribe, recognizing my peoples in whatever form they take. When the disjointed come together, weaving and feeding that fire of energy, making something sacred and special. Ultimately I want to imagine a time when I dance infinitely. From the wake-up to sleep time, I will dance through the day. Be it small and private, or expressive and united, I want everyone to dance their dance. For now, I am lucky to have the outlet and ceremony of structured containers that teach me as well as give me space (particularly in time) to grow, to know, to share and to connect. Thank you.