Me and my classmates in Modern Dance I at Contemporary Dance Theater

Modern Dance Lesson One:  Make Lots of Dance Missteps.  You might ask why a misstep could be a good thing.  The answer is that in order to make a misstep, one first has to step.  And the more missteps I have made throughout my life, the more I have learned that it is not important whether or not I look graceful.  All that matters is that I appreciate being able to move.

I announced last week that I was starting a series on modern dance.  In order to be able to write about it for readers, I first had to understand it myself.  So I signed up to take Modern Dance I at Contemporary Dance Theater with Nicole Hunter.  The class started last night and I got so much more out of it than I had expected.  I would highly recommend this class to anyone.

Nicole is a fantastic teacher because she made everyone feel comfortable very quickly in what can sometimes be an awkward situation.  When I fell apart during a floor exercise, she helped build up my confidence and then danced across the floor next to me.  With about fifteen people in the class, keeping up with everyone probably was not the easiest thing to do; but she made it look easy.

Last night, our training included instruction on pliés, chassés (step together step step - stand up with your right foot back and left foot forward, step forward with your right foot, step together with your left, step forward with your right, step forward with your left but go past your right foot so that you are in starting position only with your left foot this time and once you've got that, swing your arms in the direction of the way you are stepping... or just skip), and arabesques (pretend like you're Superman only with one foot on the ground). 

I did not do anything gracefully.  But I let my body move.  For me, the lesson was less about the specific dance moves than it was about letting go and celebrating my youth.  It is easy to forget as I rush through my day the simple fact that I am alive.  Even though my body is starting to slow down and become less flexible, I can still move.  Movement itself is a gift from God; if He didn't want us to sway our arms and our legs, then we would not have limbs.

So my lesson for you today is to stand up, stretch your arms up and all around, and then shake out your limbs.  Just let go.  Release the tension from your body.  Celebrate the simple fact that no matter where you are in time, no matter what your situation, it is all okay for you are alive.  To be alive means that you are full of life.  Today, remind yourself that the simple fact of being alive means that we have hope, we can move, we have life.  Our dance may not be pretty, but who cares?  Dance is movement with music.

Join the party! To get involved, please visit www.cinstages.com. To keep up with this page and read about next week's dance class, please hit the "Subscribe" button above.