I used to think that dancing was reserved for special occasions like weddings. That moving my body to music and experiencing the exhilarating feeling of joy, freedom, expression and connection was not meant for everyday. It was special. It needed to be earned.
To me, dancing involved putting on a cute outfit and make up, consuming a few mixed drinks for liquid courage, and mentally preparing myself for the gauntlet that was your average nightclub experience: getting surveyed by the bouncer to gain approval (Aka entry), descending into a darkened room with other inebriated people and feeling mildly claustrophobic and on the verge of an out-of-body-experience due to the throbbing sound, strobe lights and bodies pressed close together. Dancing felt dangerous and risky. It was a foray into self expression that required approval and self defense.
If you’re like me, you probably moved the way the trends of the time dictated — and if you were going to dance sexy, look out. It would invite a whole different and even more exciting penetrating gaze and unspoken non-verbal interaction, “sending a message” to others in close proximity. She’s available. She wants to be observed and pursued. She is looking for attention. She must be single. If you dared to dance ”like that,” you would have to be prepared to manage an entire external reality vying for your attention or feeling entitled to it.
Never did I think it was my birthright to express and move my body without curating the experience of others or editing myself in order to interact in this sphere. Dancing was special occasion stuff. And it required donning an energetic armor to ward off the unsavory and expected advances.
Fast forward a bunch of years into my unraveling from convention and construct, and dancing is almost a daily practice. I remember the first time I stepped into a space where movement and music were invited without rules and regulations. Where the bodies moved freely and without inhibition. Where women and men expressing themselves fully did not equate an invitation for others. The experience of ecstatic dance blasted open my movement practice and shifted me back to where dance needed to be — a part of ME and my expression that didn’t have bearing on or influence from anyone else.
The ecstatic dance community treats each event as a sacred and safe practice. Talking on the dance floor is avoided, photography or video forbidden, and consent is paramount. It’s akin to a group meditation practice where each person is honored and respected in his or her own experience.
Dancing became a way of connecting to the truest form of me that I could remember, of moving and emoting and releasing that felt pure, unhindered and free of judgment. In this community of safe, sovereign humans pursuing self expression in its highest form, I began healing my relationship with dance as an outward projection and developed a deeper practice of it being an inward journey of discovery.
Over the years, it has come to be my way of meditating through movement to music, of feeling into presence and alignment with my soul’s truest calling. Allowing my body the pleasure of expression, of movement for the sake of moving no matter what the shape looks like, of interacting to the music as it evokes emotional waves within my body. It’s a gift of freedom that I look forward to time and time again. When I dance now, it is with the knowledge that I dance for ME.
Should your soul be calling for an opportunity to sink into presence and practice with the medicine of somatic movement and music, reach out to find our next transformational retreat…..we’ll take you out of your comfort zone back into your own skin with movement.
Check out our retreats: wildwomentribe.net/retreat
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