Dance to express, not to impress!
If you made it to any livestream or prerecorded classes this week, you may have noticed something a bit different! Instead of just jumping right into class, I spent just a few more minutes speaking and sharing ideas at the start of class.
Now, one of the things I like most about the format and company of Zumba is the focus on music over giving verbal instructions. The creator of Zumba wanted to allow people to really listen and feel the music rather than someone shouting out, “Left! Right! 5678!” This also allows anyone of any language to join a class using simple visual cues and repetition. Just dancing together in this way is without a doubt a fantastic way for us to connect with one another.
Still, one of the effects of lockdown and this year has been me craving a deeper connection on and off the dance floor. This newsletter was in fact created with the intention that we’d have a space to share ideas and interact in more depth than I had been able to do by rushing between my classes and clients.
So, this week, I started class with a slide and theme for the week along with some questions. We kicked off this new routine with one of the most often used quotes about dance : Dance to express, not to impress.
As I shared with many of you, dance has always been the way I have felt most comfortable expressing myself. When words fail, emotions and thoughts become too overwhelming, or self-doubt gets in the way of speaking out, dance brings me back to my body, my strength, and a more clear understanding of myself.
Opening up to show emotion on the dance floor is not to impress or entertain others ( although sure, I love making people smile!), but rather to show others they are safe to do the same. And once we practice feeling secure enough to express ourselves on the dance floor, we can start to see this same self confidence emerge in other areas of our lives.
And so, this week ask yourself, what do you want to bring to class? What kinds of stress, worries, joys, do you want to express and sweat out? What do you want to leave class with? What kinds of energy, power, gratitude or more can you bring to your life once the music ends?
Looking forward to moving and connecting with you even more in the future!
Keep on moving!
xx,
Katie
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