Why dance classes have little to do with dance

This is Part III in a series on the Eight Elements of Movement . . .
See the links at the bottom of this post for part I & II and a review of the Eight Elements.

As small children and as we develop we take no special classes to be able to walk, crawl, climb, or dance.  We are helped along in our development, but mostly we just crawl when we need to, and if we hear music for the first time, we move to the music without having ever seen anyone dance.  The ability to move without instruction to music is truly amazing.  And this is why dance classes for adults are in reality "grace classes."  Dance is something we already are hardwired to do.  If classes were truly about dance, the instructor would put on music and let you re-experience what it was like to be a child again--remember the things you may have forgotten which are still inside of you.

Do not go back to basics

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Leonardo da Vinci 

Dancers often lament having to start all over with a new teacher.  What a sad thing it is to learn that we need to "return to the basics."  Private lessons may have been started for the express purpose of going from being intermediate finally to be advanced.   The prospect of working on basics may have more than a few people shaking their heads and telling themselves,  "I thought I was getting pretty good.  Now, I am starting all over!"

There is a solution to this problem: 

Awesome Dance: A Duet of Awe

 

Being in awe of beauty seems to be uniquely human.  Animals are often better than we are for being in the present, being in their bodies.  But awe?  This is something that knocks the air out of us.  We are speechless.  Moved.  Spell-bound.  How often do you stand in awe of beauty's presence?  If you dance tango, my guess is that your answer is:  "Nearly every time I dance."   Visual awe, such as with the great outdoors, or aural awe both can make us spell-bound.   However, dance unites the inner world of aural awe to the outward expression of grace, which makes music and dance--the great Duet of Awe--so important to our lives.