Dance...like no one is watching!

Dancing Queens

Lately, I've found that external stressors overwhelming my life are zapping the creative spirit right out of me.   Changes in my husband's work situation were completely beyond our control and had a somewhat catastrophic halo effect.  I find the most creative I can get right now, is to stare at the budget spreadsheet to see where our next meal is coming from. (okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration!)

Fortunately, those recent changes in our lifestyle did not mean the kids had to give up Dance Camp and for that, I was grateful.  Not just for my peace in a quiet, empty house, but for their need to do something fun this summer, too.

Walking on Sunshine

This is their second week of camp this summer and they report they are thoroughly enjoying themselves.  The camp focuses on learning a dance routine to share with the parents on Friday afternoon, but also offers outdoor time, craft time, games and more - all around a fun theme.  First week was "Aloha" and this week is "Space".

Both of my kids have been taking dance with this studio (the Danceroom) for 2 seasons and each year they've enjoyed trying a new discipline.  But usually by the end of a season, we are all exhausted and hating dance - it's as big a commitment as hockey and when it's over, it's a relief!  So, I don't foresee dance as a future career for either of them (but who knows?).  Instead, I think we all see this as a fun and creative outlet for them.  I also see the added benefit of the physical fitness that will hopefully develop into a lifelong habit.   

Witch Doctor

While both kids enjoy dancing, Josh is probably the better technical dancer.  

Being a boy in dance though, he worries constantly what other boys will think of him if they know he loves to dance and takes classes.  The internal struggle has been so strong at times, it has even threatened to make him stop and give up.  

But he has a real passion for Hip-Hop and Break Dancing and because I see that in him, I try to discourage worrying about what others think of it.   Most of the time, like his mother, he doesn't really care where he is when the urge strikes him!  He could be in the middle of anywhere, when he'll suddenly break into a series of "break" dancing moves.  (I admit, I use the term loosely!)   But if his peers are near, he usually won't. 

Ya welah - me, Helena, Rachel

I'm not a dancer, myself, though I've taken a class or two.  I took Belly Dancing two years ago and just loved it!  My tendency, though, is to SING

.......everywhere!  

Like, in the grocery store while dancing with my shopping cart - a habit that horrifies Brenda, my friend that I often shop with so we can carpool.  When the mood strikes, I have to act on it!

I was a shy kid - ridiculously shy, actually - but I was always a singer, just much more privately then.  Along this journey to emerge from my cocoon, I realized "we" spend far too much time worrying what other people will think of us when we express ourselves creatively in public.  Singing is my passion - why should I care how others feel about it?  I  recently decided that when someone asks me what I "do", from now on I will say: "I Sing!".

No, I'm not a professional singer.  I'm a Work At Home Mom (WAHM) who happens to be an executive of a well-established baby manufacturing brand by day. 

But that's my day job, it's not "who" I am or "what" I do:  I sing and I love it!  I sing or hum constantly.  I'm not the best that ever was, but I can hold my own.  I used to dream of a career in singing, but never did anything to pursue it because I was too shy about singing without a radio or a chorus of voices and seldom let anyone hear me sing alone.  Now you can't get me to stop!  I break into song in the middle of a sentence now.  All those years of repressing it, I guess.

So, by bursting out in public like this, I'm trying to be a good role model to my children (and to the other astonished onlookers).  I am a singer and I sing like no one is listening.

My son is a dancer!  I want him to dance like no one is watching and just enjoy the pure energetic spirit it moves in him and not worry how others are responding.  He doesn't dance for them, he does it for him.  I want that for all of us.

Until next time:  Inspire...imagine....invent!