DANCE

Dance is inextricably united with Movement, as is the body, creativity, and energy.  Fundamentally, dance is communication - directly expressed, body to body, from the most primal to the most sophisticated levels of interaction.  Through dance all beings share knowledge, wisdom and love. Dance is essential to all aspects of life.

Humans have danced since the beginning of time in every part of the world to celebrate, mourn, heal, play and pray.  We dance to honor peace, to prepare for war, to mark the cycles of the human and natural world, to assuage fear, to ensure the protection of the gods.  Because the first instrument is the body, dance is the earliest art form, an art of the moment, of total presence, the memory of which remains indelibly in the body.  

Our dances mirror and interact with the dances seen in the world around us.  We are inspired by everything from the mating dance of whooping cranes, to the spiraling patterns of heavenly bodies. The myriad cultural expressions of dance are created by a vast diversity of bodies, gestures, movement styles, costumes, and use of space.  These are influenced by our life challenges, our environment and our spiritual beliefs. Dance may be a series of set movements and gestures to music, or spontaneous movements that express what is felt in the moment.  It can involve the whole body or just the eyes, a finger, a shoulder.  It can be intensely active, percussive, slow, undulating, or quite still.

The forms of dance are as infinite as creation itself.  The unity, harmony and empathy felt when we dance connects us to our intimate selves.   When we dance we feel whole – at one with ourselves and with all of being. 

Movement Matters invites you to discover and explore the ways that dance fills the world in your life.