Katie’s Musings

Why dance brings my soul alive 

In recent years, one of the most nourishing practices in my life has been returning to the art of free form, expressive dancing. 

I have felt myself come alive in David’s Embodied Movement sessions where a carefully cultivated playlist of evocative tracks leads me back into the exploration of the body as portal to energetic flow in motion. 

As I whirl and twirl, spiral, stomp, pirouette or crawl across the floor, I feel the trapped emotions break free inside of me and offer themselves as expressions into the weave of the dance. It is a medicine that my bones and my soul agree on. 

It feels like truth in my tissues. Life itself is a ceaseless dance. Sometimes we are swept off our feet by the magic of the moment, sometimes we crumble at the mercy of the invisible forces of fate.  Sometimes we leap and feel the joy of soaring above it all. Other times we need to explore the rooted, grounded energy that the Earth gives us in a desire to feel anchored to anything at all. 

I find myself turning to this natural medicine more frequently. When I feel so heavy that I do not want to move off the floor, I try to bring my lumbering feet underneath me and find the solace that dance can bring. Sometimes I simply shake my body because the idea of having structure or form is beyond the capacity of my overwhelmed mind and heart.

There are good days in which I celebrate my victories with a dance of pure appreciation to the universe. Days that I spiral my body to seductive music to stir that which is dormant within me back into vigour. Days I reminisce by dancing to old soundtracks and days I barely move at all as I listen to quiet, soulful music and find a state of inner stillness arising from the subtlest shifting of my fingers and toes. 

Across cultures, continents, genders and generations, dance has been a unifying thread that connects people to each other and to deep spaces inside themselves. To me, dance is a place that brings my essence back to life. 

What does dance mean to you? Would you like to explore the possibilities? We endeavour to offer that to you in our one week of shared magic. I cannot wait to join you in the dance in Bali. ☺️🙏🏻