Category Archives: Dance

Which What Who

October. A chance to put on a costume and become someone or something else. I’m not a Halloween enthusiast when it comes down to ME dressing up. Don’t get me wrong when I say I care not to be a sexy fairy or nurse, nor the store bought hot dog or crayon. No judgement here. Go for it, if so inclined! But for me, unless I can do something unique, highly authentic or completely ridiculous, I’d prefer to be just me. Last October, I attended a West Coast Swing dance event that featured an evening Halloween costume parade. I participated by wearing one of two ridiculous costumes I had put together that year. It was at this event that I began to wonder what on earth would be a worthy costume for next year. “Ah ha!,” I thought. “I will be a Which, What, Who! I’ve never seen that costume […]

Dance as a Path for Healing: Reclaiming One’s Self

During my elementary school years, beginning ballet turned to tap dance and eventually I switched to gymnastics; so by the sixth grade, I was no longer in the dance recital, I was in the audience observing it.  I recall this so vividly because there was a featured dancer on stage. A classmate nearby identified that dancer as me.  Obviously, it was not, for as I pointed out, I was sitting right there. By being mistaken for the featured dancer, my awareness of the ability to dance in relation to others was heightened.  Self-critique had entered my consciousness.  I dabbled in dance, whereas that dancer on stage was more committed.  I never knew who that dancer was, but looking back, it very well could have been my dear friend, Michelle, whom I met the first day of middle school. Michelle, my new best friend in the seventh grade, became my dancing […]