So many people have so much to gain by reclaiming the joy of dancing, and in particular, the joy of dancing like an idiot. Thread https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/the-importance-of-dancing-like-an-idiot/

Dancing is important. Look thru history. Every culture has had its own music and dance. For as long as we can remember, "it has been valued for allowing us to transcend our individuality and for inducing us to merge into a larger, more welcoming and more redemptive whole"

But somewhere, we took a wrong turn — "the true potential of dancing has been abandoned by thoughtful people to stylish ambassadors who have forgotten the seriousness of allowing themselves to be and look idiotic"

For many, dancing needs to be RECLAIMED

This happened for me in context of ecstatic dance. I've always loved dancing, but ecstatic dance taught me how to dance like an IDIOT and love it. Btw I use "idiot" here in relation to highly choreographed or "cool" dancing. Once you abandon that paradigm, there's just dancing

And beyond "dancing", I've come to embrace this as purely "movement". There's something incredibly freeing about allowing yourself to listen & experience the music and then express it in whatever way arises naturally in that moment, even if it doesn't look or feel like "dancing"

Then of course is the added dimension that this is a GROUP activity. Am I really gonna allow myself to move like *this*? In front of other people? Fuck yea you will. Might be hard at first, but like anything, baby steps. Ecstatic dance as space where ALL movement/dance is welcome

So I loved the article's closing bit — "Through a dance, we glimpse a huge project: how we might more regularly experience ourselves as vulnerable in front of other people in order to become better friends to ourselves and more generous and compassionate companions to others"