For the love of dancing

I am a dancer.  I have no memory of anything other than loving the movement of body, connected and engaging in flow, with or without music. 

I remember moments of walking down the street, being present to the vibration of every cell in my body, as it engaged in the flow of getting from here to there; vibrating to, responding to and dancing with the sounds of the world around me.  Weaving and bobbing through the crowd;  a quick step to the left to avoid the baby carriage; and small skip to complete my journey through the intersection as the light turned red.  

My body dances to sounds around me… and sounds inside me.  Thoughts create the music of my life – inviting me to move slowly, tangled in the web of my own imaginings; or propelling me forward with the burst of energy that comes with a new insight, marveling at our endless capacity to make our lives interesting and entertaining! 

My mind dances to the words that flow in and through the conversations with those around me.  An idea… awakens and excites another idea… and in the blink of an eye, a life changes.  Quick steps; slow, meandering flows; thick and messy struggles… each an enlivened response to a dance of body, mind or spirit, engaged in living life to the fullest! 

Every one of these, a dance!  Every one of these, an excitation through some level of vibration, moving from thought through sound and image, to a place where my physical body connects with my physical world.  And through it all, I am enlivened and awakened and sourced by the dance!  Through it all, I am nothing if not the great joy of the dance, itself! 

And here is what I have come to discover – about myself and about those with whom I choose and have chosen to dance.  

I can share with you my great love of dancing!  I can speak with you about my love for the dance.  I can share with you all that I have learned in my own living, from the dance of who I AM.  I can direct you and guide you to ways and means to discover and engage the dance for yourSelf.  I can dance with you.  I can dance for you.  I can go first and dance a new dance of living.  I can dance alone and with others.  I can encourage you and cajole you and cheer you on in the creation of your own dance.  I can even use the movement of my body to press your body into movement.  But sadly, the one thing neither I nor anyone else can ever do, is cause you to love dancing. 

No one can make you love dancing.  That is something that you either find inside yourself – or you don’t. You might be able to fake the dance but you can never fake the loving of it. 

I LOVE dancing!  Without the love of dancing, I would have no idea who is the I AM that I bring into this world! Regardless of the music; regardless of whether that music moves inside me or outside of me; regardless of its form or shape or essence – whatever its intrinsic vibration of thought or image or sound or flesh; I LOVE DANCING!  

Wherever I am, whatever I do, whoever I am with, it is the essence of who I AM to dance… and more, to love dancing!  I actively seek out others who love dancing, no matter their perceived ability to follow the rules or know the ‘right’ steps.  What I seek is that innate, instinctive, intuitive love of dancing!  

I remember long ago being called a ‘shit disturber’; accused of being one who ‘stirred the pot’. Interestingly, these labels had been applied long before I had any idea what was considered good/bad, right/wrong, polite/rude.  I was a child – and even then, could not NOT see what lay before me.  Unable and unwilling to be blind to the obvious, I spoke what others carefully avoided to ensure that no illusion would be disturbed. Today, much older and wiser, I must both admit to and agree with those ‘charges’.  I continue to be unwilling to pretend that I do not see what I see, hear what I hear and know what I know.  Those are the steps in the dance of my life.

I am indeed, a moving presence that disturbs that which many others would prefer not to disturb and sometimes even more, actively engage to preserve the dormant status quo.  Like dancing in a crowded room, sometimes people bump up against each other.  Does that mean that we should cease to dance?  

Without that in myself; and without my relentless and tireless ability to continue to seek out others to play with for whom this is also the essence of their being, I would have to find a way to cease to hear the music.  And before I would do that, I would be willing to spend my life dancing alone. 

I can love dancing.  I can even love others who can’t dance.  But I can never cause anyone else to love dancing.  That is something that no one can hide – from themselves or anyone else – for very long. 

Breathing is good….