Growing up I took a few dance lessons, some ballet and a little tap but it wasn’t something I was really into or that my parents pushed me to do.  As I got older I went to various school dances but I didn’t get into the dancing too much or give a lot of thought to the act of ‘Dancing’ at these school events…It was more about the social scene, who I was with (dates, friends etc). Later in High School I was a Pom Pom for 2 years.  I had a great time with my team mates, learning new routines and practicing after school and preforming at sports events.  It was something I got into and enjoyed…until I didn’t feel I was as good as others and eventually gave it up.  At that time I wasn’t dancing for Joy.  Although I certainly experienced moments of joyful self expression that can come with giving into the music and letting your body go-without self judgement or rules.

Now I dance as a way to be in my body and feel the joy of being alive!  I can only write about and express this feeling  after years of not really understanding it.    Sometime in college I began going to clubs and dancing the nights away with pure abandon and with friends I knew were not there to judge me.  Dance was transformed at some point during this time-sure there were probably alcoholic substances imbibed that helped me to loose my inhibitions, not to mention a heightened sense of sexual energy in these venue’s…but I began to to find Dance as the purpose and the end goal (not finding a man but maybe dancing with a few:).

After college I pretty much stopped dancing, life took me to places where dancing was no longer accessible in the same way.  Maybe I moved my feet and hips a bit at a party here and there but Dance was put on the back burner until I learned about Nia.  I was living in Maryland and visiting Charleston and a friend took me to a class where I found my feet, hips, shoulders, neck and even my voice.  I re-discovered Dance and began to go regularly to classes in Maryland where I found a new community of women (and an occasional man) who shared this form of Joyful self expression.   Over a period of 10 years or so now I’ve been dancing Nia and other free flow dancing at least once a week.  DANCE has taught me so much about Joy, community, practicing compassion, balance, paying attention to my body’s sensations and non-judgement (of self, of movement, of others).  For the first few years I was very self conscious of how I looked, moved, when I made mistakes, stumbled or otherwise just felt off…but this practice has helped me to honor all of those feelings and be okay with all the spaces between.  I’ve learned that we are all off balance or miss a step here and there in life and that’s okay because we might discover something delicious when we slip up…we might discover something something silly and playful…we might learn to laugh at ourselves and find the JOY of movement in our Dance through life!