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The Rhythm of Change



I remember very clearly the first time I danced sober in a room full of drunken people......I had always been in with the crowd, joining in the movement in a semi-inebriated state....For whatever reason I had chosen to drive that particular night ( perhaps a cheaper route then a taxi ride home or a last minute decision to join my friends)... At that point in my life I had not danced ( as an adult) in this way..... A few songs went past and I debated with friends who swooshed enthusiastically at me to join in ..... I recall a little dose of adrenaline hitting me and an inner thought of " come on then" and the stand up from the chair feeling a much longer way up then it actually was....Walking to the dance floor was interesting, in that I was very aware of my walk .... it was outside my normal stroll and at the most felt already awkward in its efforts.... the motion shifted as I became part of the commotion... drawn in by the energy and the rhythm..... initially I felt like Bambi..... I had more control of my limbs then I was used to which felt odd in its context....I was more conscious of the space I existed in and the parameter I had to move in ( to avoid the merry flaying limbs around me).... and then something magical happened..... I was dancing... in rhythm ( or out of it) as part of the collective and in my minds eye, there was no holding me back....

Ever heard the phrase...dance like nobodies watching....well I danced like everyone was watching and I made sure they saw..... soon people were also busting out-of-rhythm moves in dedication to my cause..... smiles were mirrored and I felt great..... A new and different experience and one I had never really fully considered the need or capability for before.

Change is very much like a dance ..... your desire to be that change may come from the steps and moves you see in others..... the dance may be delightful to see and yet feel so desperately difficult to learn for yourself..... and then there are those awesome moments when you feel a rhythm..... or hear the music and connect your flow to the single beats.....

Dance hasn't really left me since that moment......it's been a great connection in my life for stimulating self-belief, creativity, connection with others and even motivation (even if my version of it is not much more than a jiggle and a leap combo)..... just today in a meeting we shimmied 'out of a comfort-zone' to explore new possibilities.....tonight I reflected on a lecture around the neuroscience of dance and reminded my self of the process of learning that new step... or belief .... or experiences/reigniting a new feeling ....

Replicated and yet continuing to be a unique experience of our own...

So whether your next dance is dance itself or learning to be calm......changing your association with food or choosing a new rhythm to a happier life...... one skip forward will move you closer to that moment.


“One step, two steps, three steps; like winds of time experience joy of centuries, when movements become revelations of the dance of destinies.” Shah Asad Rizvi


Thanks goes out to Professor Emily Cross for her lecture Getting in the Neural Groove: Neuroscientific perspectives on dance.... who inspired my reflection on dance this evening.



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