Dancing

On Friday afternoons, Chrysalis offers Option classes where children choose from a variety of electives. Usually I offer something to the teenagers but this semester I’m doing something I’ve wanted to do for several years. Dance is important to me – but it didn’t come easy. My cultural upbringing was not comfortable with the flow of joy through the body. I’ve come to learn that dancing is a gift of life. I made sure to pass that on to my daughters. Now, this semester, I’m doing something similar for students, mostly first through third graders.

We go barefoot out on the lawn. No steps. No routines. I play a song (around three minutes is a good length of time) and we dance around to it. Last week I gave them paper “butterflies” I made and they took their butterflies dancing to a song. Each week we make a circle, I put on some barn dance music, and various combinations of us get up in the middle and dance while the rest of us clap to the beat. Classical, reggae, rock, sound tracks, folk songs – whatever songs get my body moving I try on them. Once or twice a class I have them lie on the ground with their eyes closed. I play a gentle song and have them go dancing in their minds. Maybe this is a different way to nourish the optimism of what can be within my culture.