Whether we’d like to admit it or not, everyone loves to dance once in a while. Be it an intricate, routined choreography or a little sway of happiness after having your favorite meal, dancing has always proved to be an effective way to express satisfaction, joy and almost every positive emotion we may encounter. Through dancing, one can liberate tension, relax, release pent-up emotions and give your body some love.
Throughout my life, I always enjoyed dancing. I participated in every talent show and loved playing Just Dance with my family. I loved the feeling of freedom on the dance floor and just how cool people looked doing it. I didn’t realize, however, how much dancing can help you heal and cope until I started taking professional dance classes.
By the time I started the classes, I was a few months into dealing with a breakup. I was feeling very conflicted about what had happened and was on a journey to rediscover who I was. Like an act of fate, I was casted as part of a musical production that encouraged us to take dance classes in order to gain technique for the show. I was very excited for this, considering that it had been a long time since I had danced that much and the fact that dancing, in general, has always made me feel a lot like myselfーa feeling I was seemingly lacking during this whole time.
As I expected, the classes were a lot of fun. I quickly became friends with most of the people there and grew comfortable with the learning process. I won’t lie, a lot of the things I learned were very hard and I ended up leaving with a bucket of sweat each time, but I loved every second of it. I learned so many steps and techniques of ballet, jazz, hip hop and even flamenco. I had never felt so aware of my body and its capabilities until then.
As the group got more comfortable and aware of each other’s dance journeys, the dance teachers began to take more liberties in building choreographies, giving assignments and pulling the best out of us. I started to discover a lot about myself, including my freedom to to move, to laugh, and to simply feel. I took every emotion seriously and channeled it through every one of my movements. I felt my anger in hip hop, sassiness in jazz, strength in ballet, and happiness when I just improvised and moved freely. I started to feel like myself again. Even better, I was happy with this new and more aware version of myself.
I had always heard of the phrase “dance the pain away,” but I never quite understood how true it was until then. I encourage you to get up, really get out there and forget about your problems, worries and frustrations for just a minute and simply feel the music that runs through our bones. It’s time to dance that pain away!