Dancing to the Moon
Learning to walk sets you free. Learning to dance gives you the greatest freedom of all: to express your whole self, the person you are. Melissa Hayden, dancer
The first time I realized that famous people are no different from the rest of us was when I read that Sir Laurence Olivier, the world famous actor, was sitting at home, eating popcorn and watching the film “Strictly Ballroom.” It’s a film that fills me with joy each time I see it; it’s funny, sad, romantic, and full of color and passion and courage.
I also realized what a great gift my grandparents gave me by insisting I take dancing, singing, and acrobatic lessons. I failed the last and fell on my butt enough times to prove it. But dancing, oh how I love dancing. Have you ever noticed that when you dance alone in your room, you are the best dancer in town? And you feel as if you could float? Or how the person you dance with always seems more appealing than those you don’t?
Great dance films pull me out of me. I never tire of the Japanese film “Shall We Dance?” No, it’s worlds away from the American version. Its comedy is funnier; its actors more beautiful; its dancing so funny, beautiful, inspiring, and delicately sexy that it’s a world all its own.
At 22, I dated a young man who danced with the New York City Center Ballet. Free tickets to see the ballets night after night would have kept me dating him until his dance shoes wore out – however, he married the girl back home and sailed off to dance behind the Iron Curtain, of all amazing things.
The most romantic thing I ever saw outside of films happened at a Washington hotel on a quiet Tuesday evening. A group of us went to what was a retro tea dance; a forties make believe dance party for folks who’ve just left work. Blue lights were low; there was a little live band. As we ate the free snacks and sipped our drinks, an elderly couple dressed in a tuxedo and a floating black dress (also retro) took the dance floor. They danced like nothing we had ever seen. They floated and dipped and spun and were Ginger and Fred, a movie come to life right there in front of us! Later they said they were husband and wife and danced there every week – they met at a dance, they said.
When was the last time you danced?
Meditation for the Day
To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. Agnes De Mille, dancer and choreographer
Action for the Day
Today, I will allow myself to dance a little bit, even if it’s just for a few minutes in my room. I’ll tell myself — it’s exercise for my heart. And soul.
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