Hello friends,

Thanks for stopping by again and checking in.

I’ve been waiting for my foot to heal and impatient to be back on the dance floor. In the meantime, I feel my body jumping inside, eager to dance, needing and wanting to dance.

I am waiting to dance but inside I am very alive, very Dancing Dana and I can almost feel the blood zooming around, dancing inside of me.

To keep it all going, I visit the dance studio just to watch the dancers and be in the environment.

I was watching some friends. The lady was turning her head not quite in time with her partner, almost mechanically. I don’t think she felt it. It’s the movement we can’t feel that does us in, isn’t it…

Her head should move as a reaction, turning freely and easily as her body rotates and the spine moves. Yes, we already know that, but the question is, the how-to. How do you get your head to turn if you’re not supposed to turn it? What makes it “go?”

We were talking later and I suggested, “if you just leave your head be, it will go to the other side; it has to.”

I said, “how about trying the opposite? Keep your head where it is and try and rotate your body.”

Her body was leaning to the right, her head also to the right. As she quickly rotated and her body angle reversed, she attempted to make her head stay right and she couldn’t even move. She laughed, it was silly and obvious, and she moved so awkwardly it was funny.

In the next round, she let her head be; she was able not to do anything and suddenly it moved without effort. Her body was with her partner; he moved her and she left her head alone, until it turned itself when the angle of her spine and body shifted to the point just beyond balance. This is both using the head in space, yet it’s also a non-doing. It’s a how-to, from the inside, out, rather than muscling through.

Of course I love to dance, but I also love working with dancers of any age, anytime. Seeing the sheer joy and elation of movement makes my heart sing.

Feel the freedom and let your heart sing today. May your dancing body be free!

Dana
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