When did you stop dancing? Or are you still moving to music as you go through your daily life?
I still dance, not professionally of course, but music makes me move and the feelings I get are those of pure joy and happiness.
Spring shows us that the rhythm of life will still happen, even with the climate being unpredictable, the days get longer, and everything grows.
You may remember a time when the Mayday festival was a gathering of locals in the village green or local town park. Young school children would practice for a few days before May Day and then all dressed up on the day they perform the dance with an audience!
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica: Maypole dance, a ceremonial folk dance performed around a tall pole garlanded with greenery or flowers and often hung with ribbons that are woven into complex patterns by the dancers. Such dances are survivals of ancient dances around a living tree as part of spring rites to ensure fertility. Typically performed on May Day (May 1), they also occur at midsummer in Scandinavia and at other festivals elsewhere.
Watching the twisting of the ribbon around the pole and seeing the pattern emerge was, and still is fascinating.
As the encyclopaedia tells us, the ritual was a fertility rite and a way of getting the people from surrounding villages and farms to meet up and keep the gene pool healthy. We mix in different ways now, but it still is a great activity and lots of fun.
What it still does, is to bring some joy and laughter into our locality, and if you are able to observe or even take part in this little joyful occasion, I know how much it will mean to you, especially if you let the music take over and don’t worry about taking pictures….be in the moment, that is the important thing.
We do need to remember that dance is one of the first and more important parts of cultural life in most parts of the world. In Africa the drum, the dance, and the rituals were life itself, only stopped by the need to hunt, gather, eat, and eventually grow things for sustenance. That tribal influence has been with us wherever we are in the world.
When we move physically as in dancing, our minds are absorbed by the music and what our feet are supposed to be doing, even watching people dance is therapy!
I used to love watching Lord of the Dance, Michael Flatley and Irish dancing at its best, and now Strictly Come Dancing which has many people loving dance again.
Dance and your soul will rejoice, free your mind if only for a short while and move as best you can to the beat of the drum and the rhythm of life.
Happy May Day and until the next time, love and kindness always
Diane – Dancing on and loving life the best I can….
If you need support on this dance and journey of life, contact me and together we can find your happy place.