| Dance as Creativity: The Ecstasy, The Centering, The Chaos |
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by Stephanie Gurnon, gurnon@hotmail.com February, 2001 |
Dance is movement, release, personal or cultural expression. It is transfer of weight, a relationship between the balanced and centered body and the floor beneath. It can be movement in free forms unaccompanied by music. Other movements are more structured in form, like social dances in partners, that require music to synchronize movement to.
Salsa is a social and cultural identity, encompassing a wide variety of Afro-Latin/ Caribbean rhythms: guaguanco, son, guaracha, mambo and cumbia are what we normally call salsa. Salsa can also include chachacha, bolero, and many others, stemming from Afro-Cuban traditions such as rumba, colombia and yambu. You have probably heard about this salsa dance music, especially in the past 3 years in Toronto. Salsa is now danced in almost every capital city or cosmopolitan centre in the world. Meaning 'sauce' that spices up any plain dish, this widely appreciated music is alive, and vibrant, just as it can be intense and emotional. It is sunshine, nostalgy, passion. It is release, adrenaline, entrancement, sensuality, sexuality, core expression, connecting to others, freedom within a structure. Any structured dance is also a reflection of one's life, whether it is ecstatic, centering or chaotic. As you learn how to dance salsa, you might come across certain challenges: for women, it could be surrendering to a man's lead, following a structure, learning in front of others, feeling vulnerable and uncoordinated, being rigid and defensive in your body, listening and following instructions. It could be finding the courage and assertion within you to feel your true expression and bring it to the surface: Internalizing and dancing a movement "in your own words". It could be finding who you really are through spontaneous creativity or getting in touch with your sensuality and expressing it , which is often considered taboo. You might learn how to become more confident in front of others, using big movements around you, carving space, instead of small, insecure, protective body language we use daily. Salsa will show you it's about letting yourself go and being happy, even ecstatic. It is about how to be balanced within your own body, being rooted not only in the ground but also to yourself. It is a creative journey that encourages personal growth. Salsa is a guide, a teacher, a healer, that inspires and motivates one to live life fully and passionately.
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