Tuesday 10 December 2013

Just Dance!

Have you ever danced when nobody is watching and just found yourself letting go? It sometimes happens to me when I'm in my home gym and a really good song comes on. I will just break out in a dance and because know one is there to see what I'm doing, it just flows. I can honestly admit that the music and the dance have brought out emotions in me that I didn't even know were there. They can be emotions of happiness, or sadness or anger and they just arise. During those times, I just get lost in the movement and seem to transcend my thoughts. I don't think anything, I just feel and move. It's really quite remarkable.

I'm also reminded of the times that dance has brought powerful connections with Jessie and her children. Jessie, always loved to dance and even in the later stages of Alzheimer's disease, if she could stand she could dance. Dance brought her such joy at a time that she had difficulty expressing herself verbally and in other ways. She could connect with herself and her family through dance. No words were necessary, just dance! Now that she's gone, I reflect on the fact that if I could do it all over again, I would have danced with her more often.

The American Dance Therapy Association identified that "interacting in this manner de-emphasizes verbal language skills and cognitive deficits and allows persons with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias to participate in the group from a place of ability, rather than disability."  Although I love the idea about focusing on ability rather than disability, I cringe a little bit about the notion that dance is a "therapy". While I understand the context of dance as a therapy in that it provides a great benefit, I'm always cautious about labels that medicalizes a very human, non medical thing.

So next time, you're not sure about how to spend time with someone, just turn on the music and dance. As demonstrated in this touching video, no words are required, just movement, connection, excercise and the gift of finding joy in the moment!! Tell me about your experiences with dance. Have you ever found that connection through dance? What emotions were elicited?