Dance and Ecstatic Dance. Hmmmm

Henri Matisse: The Dancers

I love to dance. Flailing about is one of my major forms of amusement and workout. I started with aerobics years ago, became a trainer, and continued to dance for fun and profit ever since. I no longer work as a trainer, but I've continued to dance for fun. To that end, I'm taking a Zumba class taught by the amazing Michelle Vaughn. I've attended various "Endless Waves", "Five Rhythms" and "Sweat your prayers" dance workshops before, and find the music great, the dancing wonderful (especially since you can either dance by yourself, spend a few moments or seconds dancing with anyone else, or dance with a partner, as you choose), and the spiritual/religious overtones totally weird. Somehow, I've never quite connected the joy of moving to loud music with praying to some great spirit--and I'm an old hippie. This doesn't seem to be a problem for younger people, who in the "sharing circle" (eek) after the dance profess their divine closeness to everyone in the room. Heck, I'm just shaking my booty and turning off my brain. If that's ecstasy, I'm there. I'm going to an "ecstatic" pre-Halloween dance tonight. I hope we don't have a sharing circle, so I can sweat in peace.
PD See some great ethnic dancer shots by my friend, photographer Bonnie Kamen.
Joanne Miller