DANCING — Cris Caivano

“Dancing is a way of reclaiming movement, of deciding how you want to use your energy and your body rather than just getting things done.”

Melissa Kirsch, the New York Times (12/02/23)

I have a theory: people who enjoy doing Qigong also like to dance. Do you agree? We don’t get many opportunities to dance, however. Our culture doesn’t encourage adults to express themselves freely through movement. We’re allowed to let loose and dance at parties and celebrations, but free, communicative movement, for the plain old joy of it, isn’t something most adults do very often. Qigong gives us a wonderful chance to rediscover our movement freedom, and this makes it extremely healing and even joyful. But it isn’t exactly ‘dance’, as we know it, is it? Can it be? And can dance be Qigong?

In Qigong, we connect primarily to the natural rhythm of our breath and the subtle flow of energy within us. Intention drives us, and our movements are gentle, smooth, even, and unhurried. When we dance, it’s often (but not always) the rhythm of the music that drives us, and the more rhythmic the better! Here’s a creative problem to play with: can these two approaches be blended? I believe they can, although the result would be a very different practice than classic Qigong.

In my lifetime I’ve seen popular dance grooves grow faster, more athletic, tighter, and more “bound”. They’re very cool to watch (YouTube, Insta, Superbowl half-time) but you need to be a super well-trained athlete to do most of them. But watch footage of “Soul Train” from the 60’s. Ahh, there’s the flow, the swing, the easy freedom! Recently I’ve been exploring Latin dance rhythms and finding in those movements a rich, qi-ful place where propulsive rhythms can spiral and mix with easeful energy in a way that won’t destroy your knee joints. It’s fun to figure out how Qigong practices can help smooth out popular dance moves, without losing the color and pizzazz of what Stravinski referred to as “motor rhythms”, rhythms that make you want to MOVE. Exploring this is how I plan to stay out of trouble this winter. Stay tuned! (Don’t worry, our regular Qigong classes will continue; this is a separate project.) Please- please- please let me know your thoughts about dancing, I would truly love to hear from you as I shape this new way of moving and grooving and cultivating good energy in our body, mind, and spirit. Thanks!