Move Your Body and Dance As If No-One's Looking...

I was lucky enough to participate in Shiva Rea's Yoga Trance Dance Teacher's Training over the weekend. It was a blast! (Complete review here on my yoga blog.)

What really struck me was how powerful dance was as a healing tool. I had been feeling frustrated and down recently (hey, I'm human), and dancing like a madwoman just made me feel whole and alive again.

I really feel that we downplay the positive effects movement has on our spirit in our society. Movement has become about exercise and losing weight. Hey, I'm all about exercise and I think it's important to be fit and healthy. But so many of us have so many issues regarding the idea of "exercise" that we don't move as much as we should. Unfortunately, dance has also generated its own unique form of baggage.

Movement and dance, when done freely and fully, somehow frees the soul. Maybe it's just because our soul is sick and tired of being cooped up in this body all the time - it was to fly! So when we dance, we give our souls a chance to fly a little.

Here's the problem: We are so caught up in what other people are thinking about us as we dance, that dance often ceases to be about us and becomes, instead, a twisted way of playing into the worst gender and age stereotypes that society has to offer.

For Men:
Men are particularly crippled in this arena. For many men, dancing is something that they don't feel naturally comfortable with so they don't do it and then just make it harder for themselves.

Dancing also has connotations with homosexuality. Ballet dancers? We just assume they are gay.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with being gay, but it can certainly be uncomfortable and annoying for a man trying to express his masculine self to be constantly questioned about his sexuality if he shows even the slightest interest in something like ballet.

Because of this, it is often only "safe" for a man to dance in ways that are more violent and aggressive, such as street dancing or mosh pits. These forms are perfectly acceptable, but do become negative when the aggressiveness is then directed at women (see below for more on this).

For Women:
For far too long, dance has not been about us but about putting ourselves on display for men. This has become worse in recent years with the proliferation of classes in belly dancing and stripper dancing. (Note to the belly dancers out there: I do realize that belly dancing is not the same thing as stripping, but you must admit it is sold as something that is "sexy." When was the last time you saw a dance class for women advertised as about getting sweaty and ugly? I rest my case.)

We women are constantly taught that dancing is about being "sexy" and turning on men. This message has gotten louder as MTV shows videos of women gyrating in skimpy bikinis next to hip-hop stars. So what woman will feel comfortable dancing when she's feeling "fat" or maybe getting older? It seems that many types of dance are only acceptable for women who are thin, young, and beautiful...or desperately trying to remain that way.

Or, if the dance is about "accepting yourself," it still has the component of accepting yourself as being sexy, even if you are old or fat.

Well, fie on that. Why the hell do women need to be sexy to be validated? I for one am sick and tired of having to be sexy. I can state for a fact that most of the guys I date don't worry themselves over trying to be sexy for me so why on earth do I need to be worrying about it all the time?!

So let's throw out this ridiculous notion that sexy dancing is empowering. Stripper dancing or dancing just to be sexy is not empowering to women whatsoever - it's a faddish way for women to try to drown out their cognitive dissonance and extreme personal discomfort over the constant commodification of their bodies. It also parlays a false sense of self-esteem and self-worth to women who have learned to unfortunately identify their personal value with their youth and attractiveness.

Such identification is ultimately a losing proposition: You, the beautiful young woman reading this, will become old and considered "past your prime" someday. You must base your self-worth on something more, or suffer tremendously when your aging occurs.

Dancing for Yourself
So here we have, on one extreme, men who are afraid to dance because it calls their basic sexuality and masculinity into question, and women who are taught that dancing is not about them but just about their sex appeal.

These memes about dance are highly damaging to both men and women and to our society as a whole. It deadens our spirits. It also results in the type of negative behaviors you might see at a many dance clubs, where women gyrate their bodies only to have random men come up and plant their crotches into the woman's rear end. This is the "acceptable" way for a man to dance, where he uses it as a display of his masculinity and control over the women who are dancing solely (supposedly) for his pleasure.

(And let me tell you, from personal experience, there is nothing pleasant whatsoever about having a random guy come up and try to claim you with his crotch in your butt.)

Now, while I do feel there are appropriate times to have dance express a healthy sexuality, let's just take sex out of the equation for a moment.

The pure joy of dance, in and of itself, of moving your body just for the sake of moving it, is a liberating, wonderful feeling. It is here that you can express yourself just for the moment. There needs to be no record of it. It doesn't need to be perfect. It just flows out from your soul to the world as an expression of pure joy.

This is why the new arenas for dance - often occurring in yoga studios or in forms such as Yoga Trance Dance - are so important. These arenas bring spirituality back to dance, and remove it from the commodified dance that is just about selling sex instead of being about spirit.

Find Your Dance
Whether you are young or old, male or female, expressing yourself through dance can be very rewarding. Turn on some music at home and dance when no-one's looking. Or find a spiritually-based dance event in your area, where you are encouraged, in a safe environment, to dance as an expression of spirit.

Your body and your soul will thank you.