Move a Muscle Change Your Life

A man was in Divinity School when he was diagnosed with polio. He had this idea –an intuition--that if he moved more it would help him with his polio.

He decided to learn how to dance. He took some classes and slowly began to integrate dance into his life. He danced every day.

y.

By dancing he cured himself of polio.

Ted Shawn left Divinity School to dance and to choreograph. He became the “father of modern dance” and he founded the renowned Jacob’s Pillow Dance Theater.

Emotional Habits, Dance and Addiction

Below is a link to a great article at Psychology Today. Kimmer LaMothe is a writer/dancer/farmer and I love her ideas. Take a look at this and try this conversation at your dinner table. Be sure to read all the way to the end to see what she has to say about dance.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-body-knows/201203/emotional-habits-the-key-addiction

Happy Birthday Friedrich Nietzsche

Take a twirl around the living room today in honor of the philosopher who said:

“And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.”

Lessons from Drumming

In 1994 until 1996 I studied African dance and had the opportunity to dance with live drummers. It is the best way to dance—feeling the percussion as it enters the body not just the ears.

In my notes from 1994 I found this note to myself that I wrote down after an African dance class at Omega Institute. It says:

Listen for the beat under the beat.
Listen for the break—for the signs and signals that tell you to change or to stop what you are doing.

There is a dance lesson for the heart, for the lover and for making choices in a relationship.

Ted Shawn Modern Dance

Mark Nepo, poet and teacher, told this story at a writing retreat:

A man was in Divinity School when he was diagnosed with polio. He had this idea –an intuition--that if he moved more it would help him with his polio. He decided to learn how to dance. He took some classes and slowly began to integrate dance into his life. He danced every day. Through dance he cured himself of polio. Ted Shawn left Divinity School to dance and to choreograph. He became the “father of modern dance” and he founded Jacob’s Pillow.