From time to time I mention the importance of dance in my life. In addition to enjoying traditional partner dances like Argentine tango, I am involved in a kind of dance called conscious dance. Some different groups that teach conscious dance are Open Floor, Soul Motion and 5Rhythms. Conscious dance is a moving meditation, a practice for personal growth and transformation. It is an avenue for learning tools to use in relationships with yourself, other individuals, groups, and the infinite. Dance is exercise, artistic expression and a way to release stress. It is an invitation to learn from your body and to cultivate deep joy.
Remarkably, these dance communities have been able to take the dance online during the pandemic using zoom. We each can hear the music and dance in our own little square. I am part of one dance that has 2000 people from around the world participating. Recently at my regular Sunday dance, our teacher (who also selects the music) gave us the invitation to think about moving with obstacles as they meet us, instead of resisting them, and to see how that felt in movement. As I moved, I took one hand and moved it toward my other arm. When the “hit” occurred, instead of resisting it, I moved in the new direction.
I found that I achieved a flow state where much more creativity occurred and, surprisingly, an authentic and lovely dance. If someone had watched the dance, I don’t think that they would have known that I had not originally been planning to move in a different way. After a while my brain stopped analyzing things, and I was one with the flow of the movement.
In Aikido, a martial art dedicated to harmony, one of the teachings is “taking the hit as a gift.” A hit is an unexpected misfortune. Turning the hit into a gift involves recontextualizing the energy from a hit as ki and using the ki not only to address the hit, but also to move forward in a positive way. In addition to being great scrabble words, qi (also spelled ki and chi) is a Mandarin word literally meaning breath or life. According to Merriam-Webster, ki is the “circulating life force whose existence and properties are the basis of much Chinese philosophy and medicine.” It is “vital energy that is held to animate the body internally and is of central importance in some Eastern systems of medical treatment (such as acupuncture ) and of exercise or self-defense.”
Hits can take the form of an injury, accident, loss of relationship or employment, family issues, and our global health situation. Some hits affect more people than others. In Chinese, the word “crisis” means both danger and opportunity. It is my hope that we will gain new energy as a result of this pandemic hit.
Another related lesson happened in my dance class. Recently I have felt boxed in -- boxed in my home, boxed in a situation not of my choosing with the pandemic. As I danced, I created an invisible box around me. It seemed very real. Suddenly I realized that the box could not hold back my creativity. I danced like crazy in the tiny little space I had created for myself. I was reminded of a professor I had in college who taught us poetry. Professor McCarthy insisted that we write sonnets instead of using blank verse or free verse. He said that it taught us discipline. At first, I hated it. I felt like he was holding me back from all of the words that wanted to flow from me. But after many weeks of writing sonnets, I discovered that adhering to the form forced me to think of new ways to be creative. Having the form forced me to think about every word I selected and whether that word was perfect for what I was conveying. He made me a better writer as well as a better poet. I found creativity in the crevices and well as the expanses. And that’s what happened in dance too. I had one of the most creative dances ever because I created the box for myself that symbolized the pandemic.
I encourage you to find creative ways to express what you are going through right now. Sometimes that expression will free you. No one can stop our creativity.
PS ~ You might enjoy this short video created by The School of Life entitled “The Importance of Dancing Like an Idiot”.
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