I've been dancing all week, four hours a day. I have the sore body and bruises to prove it. It's amazing to me how there are certain things in life that make us (or at least make me) utterly focused. Dance is one of those things. I don't dance often enough, but every time I do, I say to myself, "Why don't I do this more?!" It's sort of like cooking for me. For some reason my brain tells me it's more fun to go out to eat. Then, I take the time to cook, go through the process, put on the cute apron blah blah blah...and realize cooking is great and just like dancing, I should do it more often! Today as I sat (perched rather) in an awkward break-dancing position, this is where the bruises come from, it made me really think. Now normally, I don't need help thinking, this analytical-beyond-over-thinker has enough thoughts on her own. However, dancing takes away the wheels on the bus going round and round type thinking and all the sudden turns me into a focused thinker. I'm focused on good things, things that make me smile and life worth while. Some might compare it to going to Costco. Not really. It's much, much more than the rush of a Costco trip.
Seriously though I can't help but feel beautiful when I dance, even in the "8-step position" where my badonkadonk is in the air and the sweat from my red cheeks is falling to the floor beneath my hands! All inhibition goes out the window and the choreography has my attention. I think of only how my body is moving and how much I love it...and my life. As I am forced to look at myself in the wall of mirror, I see a metaphor staring me in the face. I'm forced to "spot" all day, using my own face as my spot. The key to spotting is to look in one specific place until the last possible second, then turn one's head quickly enough to see that place again. I can see the beauty in the turn, turn my head only long enough to find that beauty again. Failing to do this correctly results in losing my balance and sometimes even hitting the ground. If my eyes leave my "spot" for even half a second longer than they should, I'm clumsily falling out of the turn and in most cases getting hurt.
When I was a cheerleader in high school, spotting was totally different. In cheer terms, this meant making sure the 90 lb. girl in the air didn't crash to her death on the loose dirt track. Back then, spotting was for keeping as safe as possible when you knew a fall was coming. Now, and in dance, it's for attempting to prevent the fall before it occurs. I'm getting too old (and by old I mean SMART) to keep doing things that result in falls, even if I've become an expert at catching myself before totally hitting the ground. This week I'm reminded to prevent the falls instead. I'm no longer a cheerleader. Dancing reminds me to spot.
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