Everybody’s giving gifts this time of year, right? The wine you bring to the Holiday Party or maybe the fruitcake – yuck! (with apologies to fruitcake lovers). Giving to family members-better than underwear- receiving the temperature fork that you have five of already or what else “As Seen on TV.”
So much has become a spectator sport – even the countless number of hours on the couch with salty snacks – watch the sports season-du-jour. Getting back to giving gifts…Give the gift of dance.
There has been a revival of dancing of all kinds. I remember watching ice dancing in the Olympics – beautiful, graceful. Ranker.comlists 15 dance TV shows, and there’s even a Dance TV Channel now. But there’s so much more to this.
Movement is everywhere around us. Nature is full of examples of movement so I could even say that movement is natural. Here’s an experiment. Stand up. Remain standing and feel your body beginning to sway, ever so lightly, forward and backward, side to side. Efforts to stop moving will pretty much fail.
As we add sounds, a song, we experience one of the oldest forms of communication. Toe-tapping to a lively beat, clapping hands, banging spoons, and a whole host of other sounds made from movement. Which came first, the sound or the movement, really doesn’t matter.
Whether you’ll win a dance contest may be a personal matter of some importance but for us right at the moment, it’s the movement that’s important. When we are moving together, we create a community with its laughter and joy. In celebration or sadness, we move better together as a community.
This time of year, yes, give a gift of dance (www.dance4wellness.com) or pretty much anything else. Regardless of how large, remember that you and the person standing next to you, sitting on the bus, attending a class, and participating on a team are connected. We are members of a community.
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