Day 17 of 52 Nia dance challenge
Dance frees up buried inner feelings to come out. It allows the energy of the music and the other dancers to come in. Both things happened to me today while dancing “Connecting” with Kellie Chambers. She inspired us to think about the ways we connect as a community of dancers, and as we moved through the music, I found myself internalizing the warmth and the smiles of our group. Then midway through the hour-long routine, when we were dancing to “Salamat,” a medium-beat song with a Middle-eastern tone and rhythm, I found myself really drawn to a particular set of steps. I didn’t want to stop doing them and at just that moment Kellie freed us up to move however we wanted. So I repeated them over and over, and felt this kid that I once was rising up in my heart. That kid loved those particular steps. No idea why. Maybe it was something in the combination of the choreography and the song, written by Israeli musician Gil Ron Shama, noted peace activist in his country, who in the 1990s cofounded an Israeli-Palestinian world music band.
I’m so glad to be writing this blog about my 52-day challenge. Without this commitment to write about it daily, I wouldn’t have taken the time to learn more about the song and the musician who wrote it. I wouldn’t have felt this surprise connection with a musician committed to peace. I feel enriched by that, and grateful that a routine called Connecting brought me to it.
Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now 