Dance
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I have always loved to dance.
I love the feeling of moving with the music.
In a world where we spend so much time in our heads, thinking, calculating, worrying, planning and wondering, to just let all of that go and move our bodies to another rhythm is completely freeing and healing.
My favourite dance style is often called Ecstatic Dance. Personally, I call it “jumping around like a lunatic”. Basically, you put a brilliant song on that moves your soul and you move however the spirit moves you. Sometimes, you just sway and stretch. Othertimes, you jump around in all kinds of bizarre ways. There's no judgement and no right way to do it – just however you are “feeling” the music on that day. (The picture at left is Toni Bergins - one of my favourite esctatic dance teachers and friend.)
I am also a bellydancer. Bellydancing is a beautiful dance that is very healing for women and a huge amount of fun – ESTROGEN-filled fun!! We, as women, have confused ideas about how our bodies are supposed to look. In a world where women are supposed to have flat six-pack abdomens like athletic 16-year-old boys, bellydance brings out the feminine beauty of a soft, curvy middle. It lets us love our bellies which were meant to be flowing, nurturing, and beautiful.
Then there is ballroom. Ballroom and Latin dance appears anywhere where couples want to actually dance together. The greatest challenge (and joy once achieved) is coming to a silent agreement with your partner that you are going to connect and move together. This is the challenge in the beginning steps of learning to dance together. It's easy to dance separately and hold hands. But to truly let yourself go and connect with another person to move to beautiful music... that's truly a wonderful experience.
My latest dance that is bubbling up inside of me takes me back to the move Flashdance and to that great scene where she is practising to the song “maniac”. I am currently experimenting with running (I'm training for a marathon with minimalist running style – see my blog: www.rocktoroadrunner.blogspot.com). So, I've been combining my need to improve my cardio for the running with my love of dance. So, I'm developing a dance class that is partially running barefoot on the forefoot combined with Flashdance-type dancing. It's likely coming to the station in September – so stay tuned!!
East Street Station is the place where I get to play with all of these dances: ballroom, bellydance, ecstatic, and Flashdance!!!
