These feet were made for DANCING!

 

“You were born to dance to the beat of your own heart.

To roam without cages, with the innocence of a child

and the free spirit of untamed horses.

I hope you laugh without stopping

live with abandon and love like that's all there is.

Stay wild, my wild, wild, child.”

_Kenny Chesney

We were born to dance, and that means, everyone can dance. 

 As life emerges, we see that babies respond to the beat of the music naturally which studies have shown they find engaging and pleasant.  In fact, humans generally have an innate predisposition to music and dance, and both are present in all cultures across time.  Movement plays an integral part in human development that continues throughout our whole life.  Movement, the form of dancing is a human universal and involves whole-body movements that make it a powerful modality for learning and development. 

A natural part of childhood is spontaneity and free expression.  Often this is physical, like jumping up and down with excitement.  It follows that dance comes naturally to children.  This ability to express through movement and dance is the basis of therapeutic dance modalities.  In Biodanza we intentionally create the environment for participants to connect to this spontaneous and innate capacity.  We use dance as a means of stimulating the genetic expressions of life in five ways - vitality, sensuality, creativity, affectivity, and transcendence.  Each of these expressions relates back to basic human instincts and drives that have been part of our evolutionary development as humans.  In a healthy environment, they are expressed fully and in an integrated way that facilitates our personal journeys of individuation.

That we stop dancing is tragic.  The path back to dance is filled with smiles of joy.  It is difficult to hold a grudge against someone with whom you are dancing.  And so, beyond our own personal development dance has a powerful role to play in bringing harmony to humanity.  Looking back, we see the baby connecting to rhythm and finding joy.  We scale that up to a group, and studies have shown that people who synchronise and dance together are disposed to pro-social behaviour.  Our human connection is opened up and through the dance, we can reach toward each other.  In a way we can say that dance not only plays an essential role in our human development but that this role is sacred as it opens the heart by transcending everything that divides us – be it ego, be it culture, be it grouchy mood!

We were born to dance because it is so powerful!

_Christos Daskalakos