Thursday I danced a new-to-me Nia routine that included a few steps I’ve never done in quite the way we did them. It got me thinking about why I revel in both the new and the familiar in dance.
There’s research describing reasons for this. The brain gets a dopamine hit from new experiences. Dopamine plays a surprising number of roles in the body, among them, producing a sense of pleasure. The right amount of dopamine can make me feel happy, motivated, alert and focused.
Nia also offers the joy of familiar movement. I’ve read that learning builds new neural pathways, which is a healthy outcome. But there’s something also deeply satisfying in knowing what comes next in a choreographed routine and doing it. I particularly like how sometimes my feet just know where to go while I’m attending to other aspects. When I know the steps I can burrow into the music, which is deeply satisfying.
There’s lots of research around this, and I especially like this New York Times article describing the research: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/15/arts/dance/dance-neuroscience-body-brain-behavior.html
What I know experientially is that Nia feels good physically and mentally with its mix of form — following specific steps — and freedom — moving however I feel. After Thursday’s dance a few of us spent a few moments trying to articulate why we love it so much. Then we laughed and shrugged and hugged and went on to the rest of the day.
Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now 