“I never taught people where to step on ‘2’, because when I learned how to dance there was no ‘2’. We just danced to the music.” –
Frankie Manning
Last weekend I attended Bali Lindy Exchange 2023 in Ubud, Bali. As some of you know, I love swing-dancing (also known as Lindy Hop) so much! I had so much fun at the event! Essentially it was a big swing-dancing party where people came together to dance with each other for three days (and night lol). Though I wouldn’t say myself as an expert in this, but I love to participate and be involved in any swing dancing events.
Anyway.. Dancing makes me happy and I’m so thankful to be part of this global community of dancers. When, I reflect back to myself, I noticed that I learned so much from dancing, and how it’s been contributing to my personal transformation. for the past few years.
Here’s what I learn..
Enjoying life in the present moment
Dancing is about being in the flow of movement and music. You see, this is why I love so much about swing dancing, it’s 99% improvisation. I don’t get to think (especially because I take the ‘follow’ role)..
When we start to dance, we just do. No perpetual thinking. Of course, we learned about some basic steps and movements, but when we dance in social scene.. we just dance. We surrender to the flow and the music.. we are not worrying about making mistakes, in fact, we make mistakes all the time.
But when we dance, we dance.. we are fully present in the moment. Not worrying about the past, or anxious about the future. Imagine how we can live our life more in the present moment?
Giving trust
Mainly there is two roles in dancing, you can be “a lead” or “a follow” and this is not subject to gender, anybody can be one. I mainly take “follow” role as it where I’m most comfortable. Here, I get to trust my lead, no matter what he or she does, I get to follow wholeheartedly. And that’s what makes the dance flows..
Life is sometimes about giving trust that we are supported. We don’t have to take control over anything. Know that we are always supported and we’ll find the beauty of life in any given moments.
Growing confidence
Yes, I learned so much about confidence from dancing. I remember the first time I learned, coming to the swing-dance community in Jakarta about five years ago, I really had no clue. I was so shy, and it was so weird for me to dance with new people, especially in the social scene where I feel like people are staring at me.
Over time, as I learned to dance better, I also managed to grow my confidence. I feel more comfortable in meeting new people, dancing with them, and hey, dancing in the middle of the crowd of the mall, no problemo!
Overcoming fear of rejections
One of my biggest fear in life is being rejected. It is so uncomfortable, and I feel hurt. However, in dancing, I learned not just to ask people for a dance, but also I learn to be okay for being rejected sometimes. People can get tired, and mostly it just not the right time.
As you can see, rejection is mostly nothing personal. Most of the time in life, we see rejection as something that we take it personally we started to look something wrong within us. We are so afraid of rejection and many times this leads us to not taking actions.
Being open without judgment
In the social dancing scene, we learn to just be open and not judge others. You don’t need to expect for someone to meet some sort of standard of expertise, everyone is just having a good time. People dance differently with various level of expertise, with their own interpretation, different styles and personalities too! There are so much non-verbal communication going on.
In the end of the day, we’re just trying to have fun. Doesn’t really matter how we dance, we just listen to our body and dance to the music. No judgement, only love. How cool is that? ❤️
“I’ve never seen a Lindy Hopper who wasn’t smiling. It’s a happy dance. It makes you feel good.”
Frankie Manning
Afterall, the purpose of dancing is to dance, not to finish. As the purpose of life is to live, not to die.
May you dance through the beauty of life. 🙏
With love,
Coach Inuk ❤️
Ps. Baca juga artikel ini dalam Bahasa Indonesia
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