I believe that human beings were born to dance.
Wait, don't stop reading! Even if you're skeptical, or have never danced a step in your life, stay with me for a just a minute. Many of us have connotations about the world that make it tough to entertain the thought of dancing. But dancing is a fantastic metaphor for a way of life that's more present, honest and engaged than the rote, half-checked-out way we sometimes move through our days.
If you watch a great dancer perform, you can see unequivocally that there is a clear emotional connection in the execution of each move, and also a sense of transcendence - of tapping into something larger, for the sake of the art. Feeling is present, both emotion and physical sensation. The music serves as the undercurrent of flow that carries the dancer through each intentionally-executed step. The dancer is a channel for the universal life-force, or God, through which miracles easily unfold. The dance is the human spirit in action.
Whether it be literally or metaphorically, I invite you to ask yourself, "how might it serve me to remember how to dance?"
This week, in a class with my Nia Technique mentor France-Laude Gohard, I found a piece of my art that had been missing for some time. Maybe I left it in San Francisco when I moved to the UK. Or maybe it's been missing for far longer. Without a doubt, my decision to return to the USA was (at lease in part) for the sake of re-discovering this missing piece. I may not have realized it at the time, but I had forgotten how to dance.
Now, to be fair (as many of my Nia students are probably reading this blog entry), it's not that I COMPLETELY forgot. Nor is it that I haven't been REALLY dancing. Those who know me would say I'm definitely NOT one of those people who just goes through the motions in life - or in my dance. In fact, many of my students and clients point to THAT very characteristic as the thing that draws them to me. But that's exactly why I'm so excited about what I discovered this week.
In class, I had a very physical experience of a subtle difference that I could not deny. I tapped into a mode that was qualitatively different than the repetition of rote movement, different than the performance of a step, and even different than the look-alike image of dancing that is slightly forced and on-purpose. With the guidance of my mentor, I was able to slip in, and stay in, for much longer than usual, while feeling entirely authentic. It felt divine. I want to say more, but I can't quite find the words.
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Sincerely,
LeeAnn Mallorie
Blue Belt Nia Instructor
