Sunday, June 27, 2010
“Life is a Dance.
Sometimes you lead.
Sometimes you follow.
You don’t need to know the steps.
You will learn them along The Way.”
I love to dance ! And I do a lot of it now.
But it wasn’t always that way. I used to hold back because I was afraid that I would “do it wrong” — that I would be embarrassed in front of all those that were “doing it right.” I am speaking of these incredible ballroom dancers, who all around the world have a tendency to shame the rest of us into non-participatory appreciation. I was one of those so shamed by not knowing the choreographed routines that I set on the sidelines. Until I realized that there is more than one way to dance and that having fun in life is not a competition.
You do not need to learn to dance like a dance champion to have a great time dancing.
In fact, it just may hinder your enjoyment. Let me explain.
There is an old American jazz song, “It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that Swing.”
It refers to the importance of rhythm in music and dance.
The noted Webster’s English Dictionary defines “to dance” as “to move in rhythm, ordinarily with music, to move lightly and gaily, to be stirred into movement, as leaves in a wind.” To me, moving in rhythm defines dance, it is NOT about a learned series of steps, fixed patterns of movement and gestures. It is about Rhythm.
I have watched people spend hours, even days, learning steps, poses and gestures.
Most of these sessions are without music as the instructor checks the arched backs, titled heads, extended arms, turned wrists and various step patterns. After hours of counting steps and checking postures when it is time to move with music, the learned patterned routine IS OFF RHYTHM — It doesn’t go with the music. And the students can only do what they have learned.
I have much admiration and respect for those who have mastered a formal dance form.
It takes considerable time and effort and great discipline and commitment (something, quite frankly, I do not have). But the simple fact is that most of those who undergo such training will never compete in any formal dance competition where there are standard, required patterns and formula for scoring. And what they have so diligently learned is not necessary (and even inappropriate) in most other dance settings. The formal teacher may do a good job preparing his students for the competition dance floor but more often than not he hinders their participation anyplace else, the patterns and gestures just do not fit.
I am for another way of learning to dance — a free-style way of learning “to move in rhythm with the music.” Begin by playing the music and while listening to “its beat” learn to move with it (that’s rhythm!). Of course, a basic step characteristic of the music’s type can be used for the movement but that isn’t most important. What is important is that you are moving as the music requires, as the rhythm dictates — You are dancing. And it takes 10 minutes to learn. The fun and enjoyment can begin immediately.
To me, a session of dancing, listening to soft melodies and pulsating beats, dissolving idle concerns into the patterns of a few carefully chosen rhythmic moves can “transport you to where you are” — in the immediate present. The spirit of dance is like the spirit of Tao: it flows spontaneously, roaming here and there impatient of restraint. There is an alchemy to dance — it is a way of getting you out of your head and into your body, of being “present in the moment.”
David B. Sutton, former University Professor and President of The Antaeus Organization (TAO), is a human ecologist, biological philosopher, artist and writer with whimsical, evolutionary and earth-centered biases. He is dedicated to life-long learning about the Earth’s essential life-support systems, and the intimate connection between the health of the planet and its people. For twenty years, he has developed socially and environmentally responsible educational programs and ecological approaches to product design, conservation, sustainable enterprises, and cultural synergy and integral health efforts throughout the world.
An obdurate dreamer and old-fashion romantic and idealist, he is dedicated to the Taoist practice of the “celestial knight.” He is an active, energetic, enthusiastic person, an avid basketball player and dancer in excellent health.
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