Is Dance just for Pleasure?
There is a common perception that dance is only done when we are happy, joyful, or that it is only for fun. While these assumptions may be true, in reality, dancing is not just about happiness; it is connected to all emotions. The richness of dance lies in the way it offers us a path to access and express every feeling.
I often say in my classes, “If I had only danced when I was happy, I would have danced about 70% less than I have until today…” This is because dance is more than just enjoyment; for me, it is a sacred space where I can enter with all my emotions—my sadness, anger, guilt, regret, shyness, joy, and every other experience that belongs to me. It is a ritual that allows me to fully experience and heal my emotions through the body.
The human pursuit of happiness and pleasure has permeated all areas of life, including art. We think that the goal of life is to be happy, and we carry out all our actions in pursuit of happiness. Yet happiness is only a part of us, and the other parts also need to be seen, expressed, and transformed into movement through the body.
Within a dance ritual, you might cry, revisit an undefined and unfamiliar memory, live through a fantasy, confront parts of your body that you didn’t even know were aching, feel fear of what might emerge from within, experience a profound sense of longing, or even feel lost at times. These are only some of the experiences, compressed into words. Definitions will never fully express what happens in dance. You can think of dance as an unfamiliar language.
Once we begin to speak through our bodies, we realize that the mind is not the only reality. There are things in our bodies that our thoughts cannot comprehend, and I cannot reach those places by thinking—I can only get there through the flow of movement. It’s like traveling to unknown lands within ourselves, like stepping onto undiscovered islands. They are experiences beyond language. We spend our lives chasing something we cannot fully explain with words.
Sometimes we don’t feel like dancing, and that’s because the mind works against the body’s desire to move. The mind dislikes when something other than itself is in motion, as it loses power, its speed slows down, and its control over us weakens. When you don’t feel like dancing or moving, know that it is not your heart resisting—it is your mind.
The body, unless it is extremely tired or sick, usually wants to move and even needs to. Once you ignore the mind and allow yourself to enter the movement, your energy will balance, your mind will calm down, and when your dance is over, you’ll likely find yourself thinking, “That went by so fast; I didn’t want it to end. Can we dance a little more?” because during the dance, you have connected with the truth of the moment.
When we stop seeing dance as a shallow activity meant for fun and start understanding it as an ancient ritual and profound wisdom that has been with humanity since its existence, we will realize that, whether we are happy, sad, or in any other state, dance will bring us closer to ourselves. Once we teach this to our bodies and minds, we can move through all emotions with ease through the support of dance. Instead of clinging to emotions, we can feel their flow and waves within the body.
Dance is purification.