I have never been what anyone would call graceful. Stories of my childhood and adolescense are populated with stories of me tripping over things and being attacked by inanimate objects. I always wanted to be a dancer, but as the chubby, uncoordinated kid that was just not in the cards. One of my most embarrassing moments was auditioning for a music dance theater program as a high school senior and completely forgetting the choreography to the very simple dance about 8 counts in. Still, I didn't shy away from opportunities to dance. I went to lots of dances and parties and danced away. I took social dance in college and loved every second of it even though I knew I didn't look as much like Ginger Rogers as I felt. Now I go to a dance exercise class called Zumba every week and I enjoy myself hugely. I get half the steps wrong and I know I look funny doing the ones I do get right, but you know what? I don't care. Sometimes I work in my dad's woodshop for hours all by myself, and you know what I do? I crank up the music and dance like I think I belong on Broadway (or maybe a Shakira video, but I won't burden you with that image...). I LOVE to dance. It feels free and liberating and FUN!
I think I got this attitude from watching my sweet little sister Carissa, who had Down's Syndrome. She loved to dance, too, and she never let any inhibition get in her way. When the music started, she was always right there in the thick of things. More than once I saw her get right up on stage with the band. She could shake it with the best of them, and she always had the best time of anyone because she wasn't worried about others' judgment.
A while back, my brother Dan of Single Dad Laughing talked about his "dancing black duck" -- how he had stopped himself from dancing for years because he was so worried about what other people would think, and how he decided to get over it and just dance. He invited all of his followers to send in clips of themselves dancing, which of course meant we all had got to be in it, too. I showed off my awesome moves for a few seconds and then rolled my ankle really, really badly. (It still hurts, weeks later!) Dan asked me if he could use that in the video and I hesitated only for about half a second before I said yes. It's not cute, but it's totally me. And since the whole point of the dance video is enjoying dancing without worrying about how you look to others, how could I say no?
Today he finally posted the finished product. I'm stealing his video to post here, but you should definitely go read his original post about dancing. It applies to so many things in our lives. What are we holding ourselves back from enjoying because of how some past experience has affected us? Just dance, people!
