A dance to remember
At the time, my favorite singer was Madonna. During homecoming week in high school, I had won a prize for dressing up like her on “Be a Star” day. Black lace, black rubber bracelets, blonde wig, my belly button peeking out, Desperately Seeking boots.
In the summer, my parents were brave enough to send me across the sea to study at the University of Nice, along the Côte d’Azur in France.
It was the only time in my life I regularly drank coffee, consuming a baguette and Nutella at least once a day.
European adventures awaited me. That was no surprise. What was a surprise was the American music education I received.
On a bus trip to San Remo, Italy, the driver was so excited to talk about the songs of Barry White. Who? Bahee Wayt? Never heard of him. He was shocked. Even more shocked than I, experiencing how comfortable Italian men were pinching a total stranger’s derriere.
And then there were the bars in Nice. Everywhere we went, “Hotel California” by the Eagles was playing on the jukebox. Never heard it before. But apparently, I was years late to it in the States, and it was all the rage in France.
Probably the third time hearing it, I actually listened to the lyrics. This line moved me then and still does to this day:
“Some dance to remember, some dance to forget.”
I never was a dance-to-forget kind of gal. I can go deep into my shadows, but I could see how problems would seem to vanish on the dance floor.
When I dance, I feel one with the beat. It’s like a primal oneness with the earth. When I do masculine energy activities all day, dancing invokes my feminine spirit.
It’s funny that a 70’s rock tune would do that. That song has darkness in it, as well. The remembering and forgetting are two sides of the same coin.
Movement is magic. It allows you to move through the darkness – not forget it, because it will just reappear if you haven’t accepted it, but to let it move through you.
We live so much in our heads these days, or people manipulate their physicalness to get something or use it as a transaction.
However, when you can move in the flow of grounded energy and creativity, that allows you to remember the variety, sensuality, and joy that being in the physical can bring, without the residue of darkness – which you just happened to transform into light.
