Dance freely



Love the way people dance in this video.
Look at the women especially. So beautiful, so joyful, so full of life. Their movements come so easy to them - Like a leaf flows with breeze, their bodies move to rhythm - with a happy natural suppleness.  (Well, the song that plays is different from the original to which they danced, but you may check out the original).
It is as if they have turned their bodies into superconductors of happiness and joy - joy runs through their bodies with no hesitation or pretense or opposition.
The others around them are not necessarily moving along in the same way, but they instinctively make space for each other, instinctively anticipating each other's moves.  They move individually, true to themselves, but in step with everyone. It is amazing how individualities can exist even when you are fused in a collective. Plugged-in to the collective energy of convivial togetherness, yet alive with unique expressions of the same energy.
As against the so called 'graceful' dancers of classical or contemporary genres.

"Graceful" dance

Most classical or even contemporary dancers hold themselves in opposition to their physical impulses, in service of an abstract ideal or story.
One thing to remember about classical dances is that it was most likely created by men or at-least systematically made institutional by men.  What that means is - from bharatnatyam to ballet to contemporary art - most institutional dance forms are designed from the perspective of male gaze. So when a dancer is perceived as being graceful, that is patriarchy commenting on how well the woman who is dancing has kept her thighs together even after moving so much, or even when she opens her legs, it is done so in a very desexualised manner. Look at ballet - before the women can do plie, the atmosphere in the dance studio must become formal. There can be sexual energy there only if channeled in a formal perversion. Informal joyous movements are abhored even with contemporary practices.
Or conversely, in Indian dances, the only sexual expression is that of 'coy longing for the man' or a courtesan's subtle attempts at getting her partner aroused. In none of these instances she expressing her own desires freely, bodily. She must remain demure and conflicted with her energies in these dances. The dance is still about the absent (or flaccidly present) male partner. The dance is still directed towards the man.
This they call grace. People who prefer 'graceful dancers' to dance like the one in this video are essentially saying that they prefer women who behave with severe restrictions and with no joy or desires. How high or wide a woman's legs travels then becomes a measure of her decency and grace.

Fuck those people.

Three cheers for these wonderful people dancing with joy.

___

Here's a related but different perspective about how arts (and specifically dance) are being killed by confused and narcissistic traditions of 'teachers'/ gurus.

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