I wouldn’t trade my dancing with
anyone—or sell it. The theme for this week’s writings on Kingdom Bloggers is:
“What is something money can’t buy?” Since I have you as my captive audience, I
am going to write about my dancing. When I lost 75 pounds back in 2003, I
became restless to become more active and that is when I found out I am a
dancer. Lately I’ve been dancing about ten to twelve times a week. Here’s a
slice of my dancing life.
Sunday mornings at our
home church gathering we dance for worshiping God. I arrive early to intercede
in prayer and sometimes I use my flags before it gets crowded. We have awesome
music playing and we freely move around or sit and soak—whatever suits us at
the moment. What a wonderful way to start a week!
I fill my car with five
or six teenagers on Sunday nights and drive about a half an hour West to Port
Angeles to the Sons of Norway Lodge. At 6:30 is a half hour lesson in
Scandinavian Folk Dance and then from 7 to 9 is dancing. Most of the dances
we’ve learned are what are called “Mixers” which is couples in circles and you
change partners all the way through the song so by the end of the evening
you’ve danced with everyone there.
I love Scandinavian
Folk Dance because there is lots of spinning. When I twirl I like to raise my
hands to heaven and worship God. (In fact, whenever I dance it is an act of
worship and giving God thanks and praise.) Spinning releases endorphins,
similar to a “runner’s high”. Try it some time! Last Saturday I attended “Folk
Life” an annual Folk Dance Festival in Seattle at the Seattle Center by the
Space Needle. I danced for about ten hours and with all the spinning I felt
high on the ferry on the way home. (We live across the Puget Sound from
Seattle, so we take a ferry for a half hour boat ride—which I love!) There were
six or seven of us dancers talking and laughing and sharing about our day of
dancing and I kept slurring my words I was so high!
On Monday, Wednesday,
and Friday I take Zumba at our Recreation Center here in Sequim, Washington.
Zumba is dancing routines that incorporate vigorous exercise moves, all set to
music of a wide variety. It started out as Latin Dance, but now it is more
International. It is fun! I’ve made lots of friends in my Zumba class over
the last three years. A bunch of us, some married—some single, go dancing at
the casino on Friday or Saturday nights when there is Classic Rock. We just get
in a circle and dance and have a blast. We don’t care if we don’t have partners
to dance with—we are free to dance to our heart’s content. Of course, I get in
as much spinning as I can, when it is not too crowded.
On Monday nights I go
to Poulsbo’s Sons of Norway for Scandinavian Folk Dance. They are advanced
dancers there and I have learned a lot from them. Most of the teachers are
older—in their 60’s and 70’s or some even in their 80’s. It is amazing what good shape they
are in. They talk about skiing for a week in Colorado, travels to dance all
over the world, and dancing for three to four hours in an evening with no problem.
Tuesday mornings I take
tap dance at the Elk’s Club. I feel like Shirley Temple with her shining curls
and dimples. I dreamed about being her when I watched her on television as a
kid. I can’t have her ringlets or dimples—but I can tap dance like her! Hahaha!
Tuesday afternoons I have been teaching children at the Sons of Norway. I
volunteered for the job at Christmas time when I saw the need. I love teaching
dance! We had a performance a week ago Saturday and it went beautifully. A
dozen children and four dances–all in costume. What fun!
Wednesday morning I
have Zumba and then my friend Charli and I dress in colorful clothes and go
into the nursing homes and visit the elderly. We do sing-a-longs and also dance
around, and, of course, spin. I have a collection of colorful, twirly skirts to
wear for dancing. The old folks in the nursing homes always enjoy watching us
dance around and we talk and laugh with them and give them hugs whenever we
can.
Thursday night is home
group at our house church, Deep River. We have a potluck dinner, a “dance party”,
lots of awesome music, and pray for whatever needs people have, every week.
Friday is Zumba again
and, like I said before, on Friday night or Saturday night we will dance at the
casino in our town, if there is a good band playing classic rock. It is about once
or twice a month we go dancing there.
May has had a lot of
dancing on Saturday nights. The first Saturday was Contra Dancing, which is
like square dancing in lines. The second Saturday was a Swing Dance and though
I don’t know how to dance that way very well, I faked it okay. Hahaha! (I just
found out there are Swing Dance classes at the Senior Center, so I will try
that this summer.) The next Saturday was an elegant evening of waltz for a
fundraiser for the Port Angeles High School Orchestra. Saturday, the 19th
of May, in the afternoon, my children’s dance class performed for about 75
people at the Sons of Norway. Then last Saturday was Folk Life in Seattle with
ten hours of Folk dancing. Whew! What a dancey month!
The
joy of dance in my life is a treasure beyond price.
2 comments:
You're a dancing queen!
Jenna..
You are definitely one who "hears the music!"
Linda
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