Dance and fitness
Dance and fitness
Even though the general tone of this article irks me in an indescribable way, it carries a ton of truth: dancing will save your life:
Drumming and dancing brought profound benefits to individual human bodies, but it also created widespread participation throughout the community. There are no try-outs or eliminations in community dance, no competition and no pressure to win. Everyone gets invited to the dance; everyone moves. The process is fundamentally inclusive.
The dance-drum culture also obliterates the age-segregation model that we take for granted in modern PE and sport. In a West African village, anyone can dance at any stage of life. If you can stand up, you can participate. Even if you can't stand up, you can play a shaker. There's no anxiety about "age-appropriate developmental standards." You won't see grandstands for parent spectating or separate facilities for different age groups. It's all one community in motion.
The dance-drum culture also obliterates the age-segregation model that we take for granted in modern PE and sport. In a West African village, anyone can dance at any stage of life. If you can stand up, you can participate. Even if you can't stand up, you can play a shaker. There's no anxiety about "age-appropriate developmental standards." You won't see grandstands for parent spectating or separate facilities for different age groups. It's all one community in motion.
I like the various themes present here: first, dancing is mainly a social event, and an inclusive one at that: old and young dance together, to the same music, on the same floor, all together. Second, that social event overcomes competition: you are there to dance and enjoy, and share that time with others. Third, It is an amazing indicator of fitness and appeal: the best dancers are also fit, attractive and agile.
Dancing has also been compared to training for fighting, and when you see martial arts experts, you see in them the same elegance and body awareness that dancers have - often, we will be able to identify the former by their movements in the dance floor.
And it is fun.