Dancing Through My Life
Never Going to Stop
Mindfulness
As Michael, our group leader, read “5 Ways Mindfulness Can Help Us Work Through Grief” by Jennifer Wolkin, Sharon visited me from across the veil. She was smiling and laughing and pointing her finger at me as if to say, “I told you so.” Michael had just read #2: Express your feelings. It suggests journaling, joining a support group, scrapbooking, or dancing. I am not the scrapbooking type but when he said dancing, Sharon popped in for a visit.
On Sharon’s actual visits to Florida when she was alive, we would wake up, make coffee, turn on some peppy tunes, and dance happily, freely with joy and abandon. It is a fabulous way to start the day.
We Come From Mars
Miss Suzanne’s dance studio taught me tap, ballet, and jazz throughout my childhood. How can I forget tapping to “We come from Mars way up above the stars, and we are so amazed at what we see.” The song can still be heard on YouTube. Check it out!
While dancing and performing in recitals taught me so much, my love of dance originates at a soul level. Taking adult tap was fun. Taking adult ballet improved my posture and flexibility. Dancing without rules and lots of space though is supreme. Here there are no mistakes.
Adult Education
Currently, I am in my third session of Adult Continuing Education Dance Fitness class with Jhon Galvez as our instructor. He plays music from Peru and Columbia with impossibly fast beats and moves no one can match exactly as he elegantly and professionally displays his talent and skill. He wants us to have fun. While the class is a blast, there is also some sadness I feel.
I am a Dancer.
I am a dancer. I am a dancer because I love to dance. I will dance in the supermarket if the right song plays. I dance at birthday parties, and Christmas parties and will imitate a jig at the pub on St Patrick’s Day. I dance in the kitchen, in the living room, and while seated in a chair. Sometimes it feels like I am compelled to dance. It makes my light shine brighter and to not dance would dull my light. For me, dancing is a celebration and a form of expression of myself. I dance out joy and happiness, grief and sadness, pain and pleasure.
It would help if you didn’t watch me dance or take out your phone to record me. I am not dancing for you. I am dancing for me. What fun it would be if you danced too.
“Lose Control”
So why do I feel sad in my class? The left and right sides of my body do not always communicate, my feet are not keeping up with the speed of the steps, and my brain, well, it is working really hard but it seems to have slowed down as well. My body has changed which feels sad and defeating. Surprisingly though, when Jhon plays an oldie like Tina Turner singing “Proud Mary” muscle memory kicks in and dancing is easy. “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims also slows the movement to a flowing, heart-filled expressive dance that I adore. I imagine our dance space empty, that song playing and I am filling the space with my solo choreographed through my soul expressing itself through my body.
Hip-Hop
I still want to learn a few hip-hop moves, I want to be better at spinning and turns with a partner. None of this however has been about skill level, expertise or any notion of perfectionism. I just love to dance. To be fearless and unself-conscious when I dance anywhere as I continue to age would feel like grace. I am still a dancer albeit with a slighter slower beat, and I plan to dance my way through life.
Mindful and Mindless
Whatever you do that takes away your worries and concerns, brings you joy, and fills your soul is how you can dance through your life. It is mindful and mindless simultaneously.
Allow yourself to tap, glide, or bounce without self-judgment whether like a Martian or like Proud Mary never losing sleep over what might have been, keep “Dancing” in whatever way that takes place in your life.
Love and Light.
