You need to move

It all started with a former co-worker's invitation to take a trial dance lesson at the dance school he used to work at. The lesson was cool so I signed up to take some more. Then, a hiatus because I was unemployed but later on made my come back. Since then, I've tried several dance styles and performed in dance shows. I've also had great times as well as frustration, it's been a ride full of all sorts of teachings on the way.

I don't like to go out and dance in clubs on Friday or Saturday nights. No, dancing for me is not a medium to show off what I can do but self-expression and self-knowledge. I don't want to be a virtuoso or being able to do really hard and sophisticated choreagraphies to impress others either. Like my yoga practice, I want dance to show me my strengths, weakness and more importantly what I don't know about myself.

Every morning starts with my yoga routine, then a bit of contemporary dance, Graham technique and Jazz dance before loosing myself with one of my favorite songs. I like to keep it in that way instead of going to dance schools like I used to do in the past. The main reason behind that is learning on my own gives me freedom and removes peer pressure. In my room no one judges my self worth based on my dance level, there's no rush to be competent and no one worries if I ruin their Instagram video.

Dancing has worked really well with my other hobbies. For instance, my Muay Thai punches and kicks are more powerful because I've learned how to move my body in an optimal way despite being a skinny lad. Another example is taking much more control over my head movement to land ollies more easily on my skateboard and lastly, my jiu jitsu mobility drills are much more fluent thanks to practicing the foundations of Mattox's Jazz Technique.

There's still a lot to learn with movement and I'm still discovering what my body can do through it. It's like a huge map that renews itself each day every time, a map that I hope I never stop learning from. It's a mirror of myself.