by Peggy Pollard, Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing
DVIDA trained Ballroom Dance instructor Oh no! Turkey shortage this year. Due to Avian Flu and inflation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says turkeys are 23% more expensive this year (but I think the REAL reason is--my third anniversary of my first YAH article on The Turkey Trot – my dance video now has 1.3K views!). In any case, this is one more stress added to our already anxiety-prone lives. And this is why we NEED Thanksgiving. As you unfold this newspaper -- rustling those soft pages with relish, floating your computer mouse cursor through this article, or sliding your fingertip down your screen glass – absorbing my words of wisdom, Right. Here. On. This. Page. Now. -- let my words melt into your brain, like creamy Irish butter into your spongy sourdough dinner biscuit. On today’s holy day of thankfulness let peace sink into your soul, as a healing balm, creating a mental haven of rest, a Chapter Ending for the global re-awakening we’ve all just lived in 2022. After this year of our lives being pummeled, squeezed, and stretched like a lump of bread dough-- kneaded by life’s turmoil nearly into shreds, we, like any good soul-satisfying yeasty dough, need our required time of rest. Like the first rise of a thoroughly-massaged loaf, this time is needed to brew in us the right chemistry of mind and heart, producing the constancy in our soul that gives our lives needed structure and flavorful growth. It’s our time to decelerate. So why is that so hard? So hard to turn off your “Get it Done Fast and Furiously” stream of consciousness, so hard to turn on your “What just Happened” train of thought. But that is the process we need -- to mix the output of our memories of this year with the elixir of “What Does It Mean?” Our Thanksgiving reflection allows us to choose how we color our memories of the year. If you are now in a time of acute suffering, you have a choice -- to either choose despair or choose hope that your suffering will be eventually replaced with a greater, longer goodness. Or perhaps you are down in depression. So many valid things to be depressed about these days: Long-Covid, isolation, economic turbulence, frightening climate change. Or maybe you are merely fair to middling, surviving, yes, but not as well as hoped. Or maybe you are doing great, successful in your life goals, but perhaps feel unfulfilled, or fragile with a nagging dread that it could all fall apart. In any case, good times or bad, you always, always have a choice. You can choose regret, leading to bitterness. Or you can choose thankfulness, leading to peace and satisfaction, trusting that your hopes are not in vain, tis NOT all there is to life. There is more. So much more, just around the corner. So let us choose gratitude, to rest our souls in the higher goodness of life. Giving thanks is not merely a duty to pay respect to those persons, or forces, who helped your life. No, thankfulness is a time for YOU to grow whole. It’s a time of resting your spirit, letting every molecule of your physical matter relax into the goodness of your life. Knowing we humans, the wondrous masterpiece creation of the universe, are deeply loved. There is also always hope, if you choose to look for it. Because you are not alone. As the ancient sage, Mr. (Fred) Rogers said “Look for the helpers in life. You will always find people who are helping.” Social dance is one such powerful place to find those who to help you really FEEL that help. Arm in arm, your dance partner’s arms encircling you, feels pretty darn nice, it’s true. Even better, YOU can be the heroic helper for another soul who needs it. Very satisfying indeed. Social dance is a gift given to us from the incredible power of goodness that is pervading our universe, the power of life that expresses itself through the abounding creativity of all people on earth… including those special people, the choreographers who are continually inventing our wonderful dances. Partner dance is the epitome of our human dances. Social dancing such a complete package of so many satisfying/happy elements: Music, movement, physical contact with others, in a safe, harmonious way. Unlike competitive sports it’s a Win-Win, not Win-Lose, experience. In fact, social dance is a great way to express your thankfulness, to get out of your own private head, into the presence of others, to cast off your gloom, and clothe yourself in a spirit of gladness, to turn your despair into delight. What have you got to lose but your lonesome sadness? Start right now. While you may not be a Spring Chicken any longer, you CAN be an Autumn Turkey What better way to express your inner spirit of thankfulness on this epic day of Thanksgiving than… the magnificently silly Turkey Trot Dance! Yes, if you sacrifice your pride on the altar of holiday family/friendship fun, you can spark your Thanksgiving gathering, however large or small, into a flame of existential frivolity. In other words, if you share this dance with your loved ones no matter how young or old they will LOVE you for it. They will be thankful for YOU. Join our next Turkey Trot lessons online or in-person www.PeggyDance.weebly.com Search YouTube: “Turkey Trot Dance Lesson, by Peggy Pollard” https://youtu.be/R-3df05X4AM (now up to 1.3K views -- please keep it going -- view, like and subscribe!)
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Santa Cruz Sentinel Young At Heart Oct 27, 2022
By Peggy Pollard, Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing Sirens wailing behind me, I’m blinded by flashing blue & red lights in my rear-view mirror. While I sit parked on the highway shoulder, I hear the door slam of the black & white behind me, the crunch of gravel under police boots walk up to my car door, and the usual growl: “Show me your ID” As if this little plastic card in my hand can prove whether I’m an innocent or a villain, right? But, oh how little is revealed on that which we call an Identity Card. What scant info is printed on this card actually reveals anything at all about my true identity. Sure “eyes: HZL,” height: 5’7,” etc. reveals something, but not WHO I am. Not my REAL identity. We are what we eat? What we think? say? Wear? No. I say we are what we DANCE. Anyone can etch some words onto paper, or even blather about who they think they are — words are cheap. But when you move every molecule of your body through space, submitting your body to obedience of an ordained song rhythm, to the liturgy of an ordered sequence of movements from a specific genre of dance-- in view of other people-- Now THAT is a commitment! That shows the world who you really are. It shows you are ALL IN with something . . . or with some ONES. Solo dancing is nice, but when you dance with another person, or with other people, well, my friends that is powerful identity. This is why Santa Cruz Contradancers whoop and holler as they spin in gleeful buzz step; why Salseros twist and tangle arms with their partners in snappy fervor why Viennese twirl like tops in a swirling tide of dancers around the ballroom, why Ugandans young and old customarily welcome guests with simple swaying wide-arm line dances, singing the greeting songs themselves, or with a simple drumbeat. They are ALL IN with their community. Even the most simple dance can be deeply connecting with a tribal identity On our honeymoon trip to Alaska a few decades ago, Bob and I visited the museum in Anchorage. In its theater, we attended an Athabascan tribal cultural dance performance. While drum & chanting music played, the dancers stood in a semi-circle onstage. Their simple tribal dance consisted of shaking their fists up & down at waist level, while bouncing their knees, and slowly turning their torsos side to side. I imagine inside a very small home all winter one does not have much space. Dancers are limited to very small dance movements. After a couple of similar dances, the performers invited us in the audience to join them on stage. Bob and I instantly accepted, happy to be welcomed into such a cultural experience. We were the only ones who did. “Our dance is very internal,“ they explained. We joined in to the next dance “The Christmas Tree Dance” It was, as far as we could discern, identical to the previous dances. The only difference? Our internal imagination, picturing a family celebration around a Christmas tree. It worked! We really did feel a joyful connection to our host dancers. Even with such a simple movement, even with most of the dance being “internal,” we shared in their happiness with our simple external movements. For a few minutes we felt the powerful goodness of connection with these Alaskan people, by simply sharing their traditional dance together. Less is more. Knowing who you are does not happen in isolation. When you purposely connect through shared synchronized movement… you weave an invisible tether to each other. Though simple, it can give us a great feeling of security, physical, relational, emotional, psychological. When we feel connected with a social group, we feel safe. We grow confidence for our future, you know you have support, the resources you need to survive: Water. Food. Shelter. PhD tuition. Identity = Self worth Identity = Power Identity = Happiness, meaning, purpose, having an important, respected role in our family, in our community, in the world. Dance unites us in a beautiful counter-balanced choreography of mutual value But do people today feel such a need for developing their personal identity? Tonight in my dance class, I whirled around the room with a young university student, whose personal pronouns are most creative, garbed in a striking medieval robes and elvin ears. These were purposeful clues to their owner’s preferred “not quite human,” identity, they informed me. Thus “they” ze, zim, zer.??? held open many options for their personal identity for themselves. So yeahhhh, the value of, and experimentational quest for, a suitable personal identity is definitely A Thing these days. A BIG Thing. A Thing so huge that our great university on the Hill considers itself at the forefront of that issue, at the cutting edge of influence for our entire culture, and now college campuses and many others across the nation are doing likewise. And it may seem small, but the now de rigeur practice just in these past two years of needing to state one’s personal pronoun is an indication of the need many people now feel to be questioning, or accepting, of one’s personal identity, gender-wise, and human wise. Personal identity matters. But why should that stop with just little plastic cards, or three little letters? No, I think we can do even better. I offer a more potent solution to this important social quest. “With all due respect Officer, If you want to see my REAL identity” I should answer, in my imagined scenario above, “then please step aside and allow me to show you.” Whereupon I bust out of my car, flash some really awesome Tango and Waltz moves, and perhaps if she seemed spiritually ready, “The Christmas Tree” dance. Now THAT would prove to any authority figure my truest most fully human identity. Because I am what I dance, and who I dance with. No card or pronoun needed. Come discover your truest human (or beyond?) identity with Waltz Tribe. Signup by Oct. 26 for November’s 3-week series in Waltz & Swing, online or in-person. No partner needed. www.PeggyDance.weebly.com by Peggy Pollard, Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing www.PeggyDance.weebly.com Dear prospective dancer, before you enter a new social dance class you will, of course, want to know . .
.what kind of people are you going to meet? Because in any such close-contact recreational activity -- be it rugby, jujitsu, acrobatic tandem surfing . . .or social dancing -- you need to be sure that such people will be the . . . errr . . .RIGHT kind of people, ones you enjoy interacting with, even if only for an hour or two. And as the “social” part implies, it could lead to more – sometimes much more. So keep your standards high. Make best choices for investing your oh-so-limited time into the right community for you, to pay off in years of happy, healthy interactions for you. To help you discern if our Waltz, Swing types are the kind you WANT to meet, here's a quiz to see if you’ll fit in. One point per “Yes” answer. Do you like meeting: fun and interesting people? polite and well mannered people? cool and sophisticated people? people who like to enjoy life to the fullest? people who stay mentally and physically fit doing sweaty low-injury risk workouts together? Now add up your points. Two 2 or more indicates you may qualify for our dance community. But even if you like us, not everyone has what it takes to be a successful partner dancer. Ballroom dancing’s high barriers to entry have deterred many wanna-bes. Far too many disappointed people told me they tried a ballroom dance lesson (not mine of course!) but quickly gave up because “I learned I’m no good at it.” Tragically, they didn’t realize their failure was really the fault of the teacher giving overly complex and discouraging instruction. So their real failure was lack of perseverance in finding a better teacher. Nevertheless, only certain personality types will succeed in social dancing. Social dancers must have at least one or more of the following key traits: A sense of musicality (obviously) Or NO sense of musicality, but must enjoy music, or at least enjoy being around other people who do Enjoys continual intellectual challenges—there is an infinite number of dance moves to learn Enjoys NOT being intellectually challenged-- just happy to keep using a few basic skills to enjoy a lifetime of dancing Cultural sophistication: willing to be transported through time and space by music and movement. Or Stick-in-the-Mud lack of interest in going anywhere else -- enjoy life where and when you are. And for un-sophisticates . . . there’s always of polka. galloping giddiness High Energy: needs to channel their frantic vigor safely without crashing into others Or Low Energy: (like me at the moment, post-covid) needs to get swept away with the crowd with minimal initiative on our part Affinity for High-Structure behavior: loves endless technique instruction and highly choreographed moves, abhors spontaneity Or Aversion to High-Structure behavior: (opposite of above) needs minimal instruction, maximum room for freeform spontaneity in both Lead and Follow roles Bliss-seeking: those who enjoy living life in a higher dimension of happiness -- like keeping healthy with the funnest exercise ever Unselfish: realizing the deepest satisfaction in life is bringing joy to those around you. Partner dancing is a most powerful way to do so. In addition to those essential personality traits (which, now that I look at it, doesn’t narrow it down much more, does it? oops!) you’ll also find social dance community is STRICTLY limited to people in these particular stages of life (and genders): Young people: learning to channel their youthful exuberance gracefully College students: In my first visit to UCSC’s ballroom recreation club the gym was packed with 150 students. Stanford University’s social dance classes are filled as well, they are the #1 most popular recreation classes on campus. Single adults: looking for fun, and maybe romance? Women (most love to dance), and Men (most love to dance with women who love to dance). Silicon Valley’s social dance venues are packed with young, mostly male, engineers) and Others Older singles: many have found partners on the ballroom dance floor Couples, any age: they can choose to dance only together, or even better, rotate partners Old people: basically there are MORE of them because dancing help you live longer, way longer, and way better. And, well, old folks are just plain smarter, knowing how happy dancing makes us. Emmmm. . . as I now review that criteria, our list still isn’t much shorter, is it? But still, here are a few types of people you definitely won’t see much of in partner dancing: Mean selfish people: those not willing to learn don’t get asked to dance a second time Young children, (though separate ballroom programs for children are growing) Adults who care for those children (like, parents mainly) Sadly, I’ve noticed a dearth of Middle- Agers (I used to be one myself), in that squeeze zone of life — taking care of both children and parents who lack the time to spend on their own fun. But as those important responsibilities diminish, when they turn into older people themselves, with enough time for dancing, their dreams may yet come true in future. And for sure one type of person you will NOT find: PERFECT people (myself and yourself included). Only imperfect humans are allowed (because the perfect ones don’t exist. Thus, a major requirement for dancing success is forgiveness, to not sweat the little mistakes (though safety first of course) as we are all learning, imperfectly, together. So, if you are imperfect (like us) and willing to learn, then this is the right place for you to jump into. Because dancers have more fun. That’s the kind of person I want to be around, don’t you? Aaaannd that’s about it for what type of people you will meet in social dancing. So, do you see yourself in any of those categories? And more importantly, do you want to become more like them? Because that’s what happens when you dance together. Learning from each other, you gradually become like each other. That is what social dancing culture is all about. And it’s a good thing. If so, then you will be most at home in our Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing community. Come hang with some of the coolest cats in town, and you just might become a cool cat too. Meow. Sept 6 – 11: Join our Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing Dance week, free lessons! View schedule. www.PeggyDance.weebly.com By Peggy Pollard, Santa Cruz Waltz Swing www.PeggyDance.weebly.com
I sighed with recognition at this young man before me. Yes, all the signs were starkly clear: - Glazed eyes - Bewildered facial expression - Unfocused movements - Slow to respond to verbal prompts I knew those symptoms all too well, having frequently battled through them myself in my years learning partner dancing. This was definitely the all-too-common malady of our Meso-COVID Era. (as I explained in last month’s column: “Brain Random Access Memory Overload Of Life Issues And Problems”) BRAMOOLIAP strikes again. I shook my head slowly. I must work fast to rescue this young one, to snatch him back from the brink of dark despair, across the threshold into the wonderful light of partner. before his ears start smoking with info overload, before he bolts out the door, never to appear on a dance floor again. No, I would not let that happen. “You’ve got to teach them!” the words of my hero teacher Richard Powers echoed again in my head. Yes, I must keep passing on this historic legacy I’ve received from him, and so many other great social dance teachers I’ve learned from. So I forged ahead in our lesson to conquer this challenge now in front of me. In fact, in my years of teaching partner dance, I’ve discovered that BRAMOOLIAP is, perhaps half of my teaching challenge. Therefore, before I can teach effectively, I must first alleviate my students of their mental blockages to learning, to dispel whatever is in their mind preventing them from hearing what I’m ACTUALLY telling them. I recognize those blockages more quickly now. “Put your left foot forward,” I told him. His right foot stepped diagonally across. “Raise your right arm leftward,” I instructed crisply, “over your partners head, before you step right.” His arm raised vaguely rightward. He spun himself around. BAMOOLIAO for sure. It is just as common with Follows as well as Leads. “Lean your weight forward towards your partner,” I instruct. She hesitates, then leans back. Yep, there it is again. As well as moving too slowly, BRAMOO sufferers can move too fast as well. “Prep your right hand on count SIX, then turn right on count ONE,” I tell her. On count five she accelerates from zero to 60 …. whizzes a 360 pivot turn, finishing three beats early. Clearly, my perfect instruction did not sink in. Though I try a variety of techniques to cross this common barrier, it’s a tough nut to crack. So I tried amping up my message. After I explain the next part of the dance — extremely clearly, I might add — to the couple, “On rock- step count SIX, the Lead preps left hand up. Point fingers to the left,” then I make it even clearer, and physically demonstrate, dancing it with my assistant. The students face me, still blank looks on their faces. Still no light. Definitely an acute episode going on here. I can see that it’s not WHAT I said that was unclear or welcome. It was that my crystal clear instruction was barely registering in their too-full brains. I could almost see the gooey brain fog swirling in their heads -- a morass of worries and voices from whatever the rest of life was giving them at the moment. Perhaps her boss’ unfair criticism from work yesterday, or his argument last week with his girlfriend, or that recent car accident . . . or any one of the panoply of global catastrophes happening now: national politics .Ukraine, the economy, global climate change. So many worries to choose from, sadly. Those mental ghosts swirling in their minds, a choir of ghoulish specters chanting a terrible cacophony inside their brains. Egads! Compared to all that…or whatever else was occupying their thoughts, pretty much anything I said was not loud enough to break through. No. Compared to that mental din, my voice was only a feeble chirp, a dim foghorn in a swirling storm. sounding like those adults in a Peanuts cartoon : “whahh, wah-wah -wah-wahhhh.” I know this feeling well. It’s still a daily battle for me too -- while taking other dance classes: BRAMOOLIAP while grocery shopping: BRAMOOLIAP while sitting down to write this article: bramoo… bramOOli, BRAMOOLIAP! Fortunately, I knew just what they needed. I had the remedy to lift them quickly out of their mental quicksand. Face to face with a smiling human, almost no one can stay ensnared in BRAMOOLIAP for long. The sensation of wrapping your arms, gently but firmly, around your partner’s shoulders really focuses your attention. Feeling your partner’s hands bouncing to the catchy music rockets your consciousness up out of the murky depths and into the sunlight. We try again. I patiently guide the couple to practice the dance together, in stop-motion, move by move. It starts to sink in. I play music. I repeat my instructions s-l-o-w-l-y. Finally, something in his brain snaps-to. My words connect, like a ray of light from Steamers. Lane lighthouse, beaming out to that lost ship adrift on the Monterey Bay waves. “Oh I got it!” he gushes, relieved. “Is that all it is? That’s not so hard.” Breakthrough! Suddenly the dancing couple comes to life. Precisely on the beat he shoots his hand up to the left diagonal corner. As he learns to lead it more clearly, she starts to follow it better. She feels the beat, compresses her hand into his, pivots rhythmically to the right, snaps back to face her partner and into a rock step, right on beat. The cure has taken hold. Two more dancers snatched from the jaws of dark dancing confusion into the joy of partner dancing. BRAMOOLIAP BEGONE! Rock on my young dancers, rock on into that happy light. Come join our SCW&S dance community -- find your own breakthrough into dancing bliss. We Dance To Forgetpublished in Santa Cruz Sentinel, "Young At Heart" section June 30, 2022
By Peggy Pollard, Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing www.PeggyDance.weebly.com When I open the door to the empty dance hall, I see nothing but the floor. I feel nothing but a lovely emptiness. Like that first scoop of vanilla ice cream, the first words on a blank paper, the first notes of a beautiful song, this uncluttered cleanness of the room draws me in like a cool blue pool of water on a sweltering day. The polished wood floor is a blank canvas, ready for our feet to paint a fresh picture. As I step into this empty room I am also stepping into the best cure for BRAMOOLIAP disease. Yes that dreaded, and wayyyyy too common mental disease: “Brain Random Access Memory Overload Of Life Issues And Problems” BRAMOOLIAP! It’s the terrible disease that we are all vulnerable to. But good news! We have a cure for BRAMOOLIAP. The cure is to forget. When our personal computers or phones start glitching, overloaded with too many commands and data, flying across their electrical nodes, they often need to shut down, to reboot and rebuild their complex network connections inside. Human brains are far more complex than computers. But we likewise often need to find good ways to shutdown and reboot our minds. This allows our mind and emotions to renew and rebuild. A reboot lets us sort through our experiences, disentangle and refresh our thoughts and feelings, to find peace with the world, and peace in our psyche. A new environment with new people helps us do this. We each need mental sanctuaries. My suede-soled practice ballroom shoes click softly on the varnished wood floor as I walk across the dance floor. As I prepare myself to teach this morning’s dance lesson, I work hard to remember -- my form, my rhythms, the proper instructions for the dance patterns, to sharpen my brain to move in new ways. But I also try hard to forget. In this room I shut off the worrying part of my brain to forget all my cares and worries of the week. I turn on the waltz and swing music. Mike walks in with a confident smile on his face. Other dancers arrive and absorb our cheerful vibes, creating a small happy community of harmony, encouraging and uplifting each other dance by dance, song by song, until the outside world disappears. In this room only happy positivity is allowed to enter. But the outside world’s worries are strong. It’s gloom hovers always just outside the door. Indeed, we all have so many problems to worry about these days, worldwide and personal, that our brains are constantly, hard at work, day and night, trying to solve them. Like a big ball of many tangled threads, our minds get overwhelmed trying to disentangle them all. For example, stewing in my own mind right now are: this month’s Congressional hearings on the attempted overthrow of our government, fires, floods, tsunamis, famines, earthquake, global pestilence, wars and the gradual destruction of our entire earth’s ecosystem, dooming our entire earth population. All are true and merit everyone's worries. In addition to that, I’m also mentally calculating whether my powder blue socks coordinate with my purple shorts; what is that strange buzzing noise in the corner of the kitchen, and whether on my last zoom I sounded like a doofus or a cool genius? But those questions are quickly overrided by thoughts on why did my husband snap back at me when I very nicely and reasonably requested he move his annoying clutter of iced tea bottles off the kitchen shelf…which then instantly re-ignited our ongoing territorial tiffs about our limited home space? Tomorrow I’ll find a whole new set of worries, I’m sure. Yes, our lives are full of layers and layers of worries big and small. But too much worrying, to the point of overwhelm is bad, definitely bad, for our mental and physical health. Even the healthiest of us are feeling it, including our vibrant university students. UCSC’s Psychological and Counseling service staff, Dr. Richard Enriquez reports that, in the past two years during covid isolation UCSC has seen a big rise in reports of anxiety, depression and many symptoms of mental illness campus-wide. Yes the dreaded (and far too common) disease BRAMOOLIAP is hitting us all. What then is the cure? How do we help our minds let go of the powerful worries clouding our thoughts? First finding a happy PLACE, a beautiful place, to put ourselves in, is a good start. A ballroom is great for that. Walking into a clean, safe room devoted to dance powerfully focuses our entire attention. But we can still bring the anxieties in our head with us into the dance hall. So we need something more to override those gnawing, negative thoughts in our brains We need even bigger, stronger thoughts to push them out. An urgent physical task in front of you works great for that. Moving our bodies, especially to music, is powerful to lift us out of our cluttered thinking into a beautiful communion with other people. Doing positive physical actions face to face with another human works great for squeezing out those sticky BRAMOOLIAP from our minds. Dancing with a partner is just the ticket. The music starts. Mike holds up his left hand in a “V.” I place my right hand in his. We connect in closed position. Worries begone! For an hour or two, I’ve forgotten about the outside world. My mind is filled only with the dance we are doing. Yes. The cure for this awful BRAMOOLIAP disease is working. Partner dancing is definitely the strong and refreshing elixir needed to cure that terrible happiness-destroying disease of BRAMOOLIAP. We dance to remember… And, happily, we dance to forget. published in SC Sentinel May 26, 2022
by Peggy Pollard, Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing www.PeggyDance.weebly.com Thursday, April 28, 2022, Cooper Street, downtown Santa Cruz. “Dancing In the Streets” dance performance festival. 6:39 pm: Surrounded by a cheering audience, our six dancers took a deep breath and stepped onto the stage for our world premier dance performance. This was our great moment of glory for our small, newly formed band of Waltz & Swing performers. We were feeling good, I’d say, even great, on average. But as often happens in such events, our confidence only solidified a scant hour before performance time, when we finally got to rehearse for the first time as a complete group. REWIND to 5 pm: After weeks of planning and fretting, an hour before performance, our final rehearsal solidifies our dancing. First, because we look so dang GOOD, all dressed in sophisticated black and white. Then, dancing in a circle, we give each other visual cues. We each get swept into our group momentum. Ragged skills smooth out. Every repetition feels better and better. We relax into the music, channel it through our hands and feet. We are in a “State of Flow” just in time for peak performance. 5:59 pm: All last glitches are smoothed out. Our cloud of worries evaporates into relief and delight. But for two dancers the stress still lingers. Not only new at performing, they had only recently learned the basics of Waltz & Swing dance. One having only practiced online with a broom. But they trusted the rest of us seasoned performers, who calmly assured them it would all turn out OK. And just in time, it was all working. We walked over to Cooper Street stage. Waiting amongst the audience we giggled with nervous energy. Ready or not, it was time to show the world what we’ve got. There is something so scary about a stage. It is so . . . PUBLIC! There it was, the 20-foot square Marley dance flooring taped on the asphalt of Cooper Street. But it was not the empty gray space that was so scary. It was the boisterous throng of people crowded around it. Rows of children sitting cross-legged at the edge of the stage, gaggles of cheering teens, glowing after their performances of ballet, hip-hop, lyrical dances, for clusters of admiring parents and assorted street people. “Don’t worry” I reassured my dancers, surveying the crowd of 100 around us. ”No one will be watching us.” “Wwwhatttt??” Confused stares melted into giggles, as my joke sunk in. Haha. Their unspoken jitters were defused. This fear of public performance is powerful, hard to shake off. The nervous tension. The cold dread in the deep pit of your stomach. Vague fears lurk about of not only imperfection but a deeper foreboding of mysterious doom. Perhaps fear that your very worth as a person is under public scrutiny? Sounds a bit absurd when I write it out loud, though. doesn’t it? And yet, somehow that fear inhabits deep within many of us, robbing us of our joy of sharing beautiful things in public. Why is that fear so strong? Risk of humiliation – fear of public shame -- is deep and universal. In fact, it underlies the number one fear of most people worldwide--public speaking. According to Toastmasters, the international coaching program for public speaking skills, many people even fear public speaking more than even death itself! And what is dance, but a form of public speaking? Dancers communicate our messages through movement, as we were about to do on Cooper Street stage. So how can we be freed from this nagging, often exaggerated, fear? By tapping into an even deeper primal instinct -- our need to connect. The flip side of fear is trust. Joining with fellow humans in positive physical activities like dance, gives a wonderful sense of security. We feel safe when we feel valued, accepted, affirmed. No matter how skillful I am, (or not) it’s the fact of WHO I am dancing, that sparks my joy in social dancing. As I saw yesterday down in Cowells Cove -- the largest group of Brown Pelicans I’ve ever seen in the waters. A thousand birds floating, fluttering wings, skimming above undulating waves, diving into the water to scoop up mouthfuls of anchovies. Their choreography was rhythmic, sublime, each bird individually free to move as they please, yet held together in harmony, feasting on the abundant fish below. The Pelicans cared not one whit what I thought of them. No worrying “are we clever, cool or good enough?” No. They just moving in spectacular joy with waves, wind and water. Our public dancing likewise is our opportunity for glory. It wields a cultural power to touch other lives. Our heightened nerves are because we also know our performance will be recorded into public history, etched permanently into the psyche of our audience. 6:40 pm: Back on Cooper Street stage, we join hands and begin. First steps into the circle center. 1 – 2 – 3 – KICK! Anxiety melts into excitement. We see each other, feel each other’s hands bouncing swinging forward, slipping into a bigger group rhythm. Back out, lean forward, KICK! All turn left, raise arms up, pumping hands high to the sky. Glory Be! We are a dance team! 6:46 : I notice an older couple smiling on the sidelines, imitating our dance. Then another. Wow! Our dance joy is spreading. Not from impressive skills, but the joy we shine in dancing 6:49 pm: We bow to our cheering audience, feeling the joyful glory of dancing together, lifting each other up into higher strata of happiness than we can possibly reach on our own. So let us be like the Pelicans flowing together in their Pelican dance. Jump into the glory of dance with us and scoop up the bounty of joy into your life. By Peggy Pollard, Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing www.PeggyDance.weebly.com
Along with our springtime appearance of hummingbirds, lilacs, and elephant seals, our Santa Cruz social dance communities are re-emerging too, from our two-year Great Dance Hibernation. Some dance programs, like February Asparagus, have already sprouted early, while others come later, forming slowly but powerfully, like our apples and elephant seals. Meanwhile, our social dancers have now re-shuffled into two strata. A stubborn few like myself, never stopped dancing, continuing online and wherever we could safely find dance partners. We are now rewarded with continuing dance stamina, able to enjoy long sessions of hearty polkas and invigorating swing dances. But sadly, most other dancers gave up when in-person dances closed. They lost their dancing strength, are now winded by a mere song or two, have grown mushy in brain, flagging in footwork. For these sad dropouts who lost their momentum, the barriers to returning to dance look high. So we must help them (you?) overcome, by understanding their many powerful reasons to NOT return to our social dancing goodness! REASON #10. I love my UNHEALTHY HABITS that make me feel bad. Perhaps overdosing on, well so many substances are available to abuse, but let’s just name two examples: Cheetos (as described in Weird Al’s “Inactive” song parody) and simply inactivity -- sitting too much. Harvard Medicine Health News reports in this week’s article “The Worst Habits for Your Brain,’ that the average adult sits for six-and-a-half hours per day, and all this chair time does a number on the brain. A 2018 study of people ages 45 - 75, showed more hours sitting per day correlated with cognitive decline and dementia. So if you PREFER to welcome dementia sooner, best to avoid social dancing, or other vigorous physical activity that prevents it. Also, Cheeto dust repels dance partners. REASON #9. I want to keep feeling DEPRESSED. Hearing bad news that you cannot take any action to change causes depression. Our past two decades of global warming, six years of political turmoil, two years of COVID panic, and our last two months of horrible war, we are all prone to deep despair. Social dancing is, of course, a potent antidote for depression. Even small movements to music are powerful vectors for big happy feelings, changing our psyche’s direction from passivity to purposeful positivity. Even if you cannot change the actual bad news, you CAN change yourself, starting with a single, musical step, triggering happy hormones to start flowing. But if you prefer your negative gloom, then definitely do NOT start tapping your feet to “Can’t Stop the Feelin.’ ” REASON #8. I have NOTHING TO CELEBRATE. Not the sinking of Russia’s Moskva flagship aircraft carrier. No birthdays, holidays, weddings, losing a pound, starting a new job, quitting that job, births, deaths, anniversaries--just a grey continuum of a joyless life. Yecchhh. It works. I feel depressed all over again. REASON #7. I don’t want to CONNECT WITH POSITIVE PEOPLE. One can dance alone, to be sure. But physical contact, however slight, creates a powerful change of mood. Palm to palm, arm around shoulder or waist, even pinky finger to pinky finger, if structured safely, gives a close sense of companionship, a deep feeling of community as you move in harmonious partnership with another human body. So don’t touch, if you prefer to feel isolated. REASON #6. I don’t want to FIND ROMANCE. A respectable reason to not dance, especially if you already have a romantic partner. But you might also develop safe friendships to share magical sparks of romance in the partner dancing itself—for only a 3-minute commitment. So be sure NOT to do that if you DON’T want to feel any twinges of romantic playfulness. REASON #5. With our flood of WEDDING INVITATIONS this spring, I prefer to be a party-pooper. Avoid irrational exuberance on the dance floor in our post-covid wedding whirlwind. Glowering in a dark & lonely corner while everyone else jumps for joy to celebrate bride and groom will ensure I am forever remembered as the bump-on-a-log grumpy old uncle/aunt friend/ bridesmaid by my favorite bride & groom. REASON #4. I AM the Bride/Groom! But I don’t want to kick off my own post-ceremony celebration in an optimistic way… best to not get my new spouse’s hopes up. Simpler to skip delighting him/her and save our energy for petty arguments due to lack of shared joyful moments. REASON #3. I DON’T LIKE MUSIC. Since I don’t know how to find the beat of the music, I don’t know how to launch a social dance with a partner. So better to not learn how, even though a good teacher like Peggy can teach me. My soul is better off not being awakened from my cold, sterile hibernation. REASON #2. I DON’T WANT TO LEARN new ways of moving. Best to not explore my brain’s learning capacity -- 10% usage should be plenty. REASON #1. I like to USE MY TIME INEFFICIENTLY with many simple activities that satisfy only small parts of my body-mind-soul self, thus feeling always unfinished and unsatisfied. An elderly lawyer I know recently noticed his diminishing of mental and physical agilities. So he learned new hobbies to strengthen each skill: juggling, playing a musical instrument, calisthenics. Each one helped in a specific way. But the single activity of social dancing gives a wide variety of such benefits for your body, mind and soul in the least amount of time. So definitely DON’T partner dance, because, by golly, that would benefit all those areas in less time! (Unless you would rather get happier quicker, and find something better to do with all your leftover hours?) Published in SC Sentinel March 31
By Peggy Pollard, Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing www.PeggyDance.weebly.com Can dance really bring peace to the world? Really? Can a dance unite bitter enemies across the globe? I say it can. Oleksandr was nervous opening the door into the studio for his first ballroom dance lesson of the contest. But at 28 years old Oleks felt ready to improve his partnering skills. So he jumped in . . . BIG. He entered a national pro-am competition, knowing his teacher would help him learn powerful skills he wanted. Olek’s nervous giggles accompanied his first awkward steps with her. But he swallowed his embarrassment, practiced hard, and learned the footwork, frame and subtle communications required to lead his powerful partner. Oleks knew such skills would be very useful in his career. So he kept at it, knowing every step was a step in the right direction for him. His first week he learned Swing dance. To keep him humble, he wore a neon-pink Elvis costume. They danced successfully. Over the next weeks Oleksander danced Quickstep in a Charlie Chaplin getup, Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot. He mastered the rhythm of leading: share a step, lead the move, read her response. His skills grew more sophisticated, deftly channeling his partner’s energy in perfect unity, beyond thinking, into a state of harmonious flow. With each choreography they became more creative, more risky, even doing a dance blindfolded. The audience ahhhed, then roared in approval. Each week of the contest was a new win. And this dance contest had a BIG audience: the entire nation. Sweaty and glowing, Oleks and teacher won first place that glorious season of Dancing With The Stars, Ukraine version. In the glory of winning, each knew they were on the right track in life. If they could partner with such successful complexity, they could do anything. For Oleksandr, this victory was just one early step in his meteoric career. What he learned in partner dancing helped him achieve even greater victories, gaining fame in his country, then around the world. Partner dancing has indeed helped Oleksandr to achieve greatness as a leader, not only on the dance floor, but in his job, as a high commander in the Ukraine war. He is now in international news, connecting in successful partnerships with many of the most powerful people in the world. The amazing, creative victories you are seeing daily in the news this month is thanks to excellent leadership skills by Oleks, or as you may know him now, in his more muted costume, a plain green t-shirt, Volodymyr Oleksander Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine. See a video of his championship season dance medley youtu.be/TlJywp7E3Gw (thanks to Dr. Bob Blum for sharing) So my friends, you tell me, does dancing really solve the problems of the world? Let’s put it this way. If that OTHER neighboring leader starting this evil war had learned the deep satisfaction of harmonious partner dancing, their two nations would not be in this military dance of destruction -- the opposite of successful partner dancing. Perhaps he failed at Cotillion? In fact, if Mr. P. had discovered the deep sense of honorable self-worth – that all the yachts and gilded palaces cannot give -- well, he wouldn’t feel such a selfish need to chase glory by crushing others. (and bringing shame instead) So let us not take that terrible path. Instead, let’s walk in Oleks’ better direction, toward truth, goodness, and hope. “Life will win over death and light will win over darkness” -- Volodymyr Zelenskyy President of Ukraine This month, everyone I know feels so depressed about the terrible war news, because they feel helpless to do anything about it. But instead of ignoring the news, a better antidote to our depression is to take a positive action. To do something, any positive action no matter how small, is a step in the right direction. It changes us. So, this month’s Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing, we danced to Ukrainian music. Only a small thing, I know. But it immediately felt good for us to take a small dance step in honor of those suffering. Doing so connects our spirits to the Ukrainian people. We imagine their lives. We share a bit of beauty from their culture. We grow affection in our heart for them. (Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the Heroes!) Yes, dancing is good for not only your physical heart but your spiritual heart … Dance can even be a form of prayer, that invisible channel sending blessings to those who need it. Then don’t stop there. Chase that good feeling. Let your dance prayer inspire you to MORE good action. Donate to a worthy charity (suggestions on my website) and do more good in the world. But start with taking your first step… in the RIGHT direction. Be a part of how dancing really does solve all the problems of the world. www.peggyDance.weebly.com Wasn't our glorious 2022 Winter Olympics awesome this month? Watching those snowboarders tumble across the sky, ski jumpers fly, Cross country skiers sail. . . and then the figure skaters: Nathan Chen, Papadadakis & Cizeron, Chock & Bates soaring so spectacularly across the ice is breathtaking ehhh?
Now, let’s channel our fresh inspiration and consider what we can learn from those new world champion athletes that we can apply to our own humble journeys in learning to social dance. As well as being thrilled by their great talent and years of discipline, here we will take a closer look in particular at the way several kinds of Olympic champions use special footwork techniques to achieve success moving across snow and ice in their respective sports. You see, your feet are the mechanical foundation of movement for your whole body. Once you change the way your feet move, you change the way your whole body moves. Though your feet are only a small body part, just a few square inches that bear your weight into the floor, they are a big lever for steering your 50-to-300-ish pounds of body weight into any direction. Amazing! Thus, even tiny changes in your footwork will trigger a cascade of movements above. Your feet are the fulcrum for even a little effort to shift your stack of body parts, right up to the top of your head. A slight shift of your weight over your feet will make a big shift in the balancing, counterbalancing and leveraging of each block of your body weight. That’s why sports coaches worldwide make sure to include footwork in their trainings Do your footwork correctly, with proper muscle and joint alignment, and you will strengthen your toes, ankles and knees, align your spine, uplift your torso, solidify your shoulders, free up your arms, stretch up your head, and center all into a beautiful posture. Your body, properly aligned with hips over feet, shoulders over hips, becomes a perfectly proportioned work of art, a living sculpture. You will then be able to delightfully connect with symmetrical counterbalance to your likewise finely-tuned dance partner. So yes, wonderful results await you when you do your footwork right. But first, let's get back to the beginning. Let’s start with putting our feet on a path towards excellence -- Olympic level excellence! So we’ll head back to the Olympics to see what we can learn. First, let’s start with my favorite winter sport: Ski Jumping! It’s all about a perfectly balanced launch, right? Let’s try it: First, stand upright and still, feet under you, shoulder width apart. Your imaginary Ski Jumping Skis pointed straight forward under you. Swing your arms back as you bend your knees, keeping your head up, then as you swing arms forward rise up onto the front ball of your foot and slowly swing your arms forward and up. See how long you can balance up high before swinging arms down again and lowering onto flat foot, bending your knees. Try it again a few times, pushing your feet into the ground, squeezing the muscles of your legs together to stabilize them. Still wobbly? Now try to squeeze the muscles of your knees, back, shoulders all to the center of your body and lifted up. You did? Great! Are you ready to go out on the ski jump now and try it there? Me neither, so let's just pretend, right here on our safe kitchen floors. Now, let's try cross country skiing. Here we learn to line up our feet like they have big giant skis. In the Ski-Athlon the first half was the old-fashioned style of cross country skiing which is toes pointed straight ahead sliding your feet straight forward and back. This is what we do in Waltz aiming feet straight forward, efficiently getting the most distance with each step Try it right now : line up your toes to point straightforward. As you step your feet are rolling through each foot lifting the heel up from behind you so you get maximum smooth distance The second half of the SkiAthlon was the more modern style of footwork. You push your feet back diagonally to get more power from them. This causes you to rock back-and-forth, diagonally side-to-side. This is also the motion used more in speed ice-skating, to efficiently get the most power from each step, with not only the foot pushing diagonally back but your bodies and arms swinging diagonally forward. Now let’s adapt this to Waltz. Swinging your body diagonally forward three steps to the left then three steps to the right. Feel it adding more power to your waltzing? Like an Olympian waltzer! Not only is footwork critical in the sliding, gliding sports of snow & ice, but even Martial Arts coaches proclaim the value, though for more violent goals: “Footwork allows us to do 3 things:
In a gentler view, Harvard Healthbeat advocates we start simply with walking. “It improves your cardiovascular health and can help your circulation, muscle tone, and mood. When you walk, you put your foot through its full range of motion, from the time your heel hits the ground until you lift off with your toes.” The goal of proper footworks, explains Vern Gambetta, President of Gambetta Sports Training Systems, is “control of and positioning the center of gravity... keeping the hips over the base of support if stability is desired, or shifting the center of gravity outside the base of support to initiate movement and change direction.” In other words, keeping your balance, Speaking of which … how about those awesome ice dancer couples! With just a couple more of our SCW&S lessons, perhaps you'll be ready for that incredible Olympic sport… he he – ha ha - uh ohhhh … I can hear the vigorous rattles of your head shaking from here. OK realistically you probably won’t actually DO what those champion ice dancers are doing . . . but you can FEEL like you are. Yes, that glorious feeling IS achievable. Even in just a few lessons you can feel the difference in your walking, in your posture and grace. And that is how YOU can start transforming your body into an Olympian dancer's body —from the feet up. By Peggy Pollard, Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing, www.PeggyDance.weebly.com
Just as my finger hovered to click my computer cursor above the “send” button of my dance news email, I quavered. A sinking feeling weighed down my gut like a cannon ball. Wrong! It felt so wrong. I scanned again the Sentinel Omicron news alerts…agonized … texted my dance friends… The first week of January is always our biggest launch of the year. New students jump into classes with five months of Spring stretching out on their calendars. It’s the perfect time for dance dreamers step onto their long-desired path to learning how to gracefully partner dance. For months I’d been planning for this week. But, in a huge disappointment to, well, to the whole world, January 2022 is spent in social quarantine. Again. After our normal December holidays, our dancers are eager to waltz and swing back into our dance hall, whirling face-to-face with a partner around the room, bouncing into tuck turns and arm slides. But NO. It was just not safe. Visions of waltzing Omicron germs floating around my head, I sighed, revised my email, and cancelled our January in-person dances. No, not on my watch will we risk the health of any dancers. Even with dancers fully vaxxed and masked, we must prevent spread of this new super- contagious variant, now causing much global suffering and death. But the upside to Omicron, or at least to our pausing so many events to prevent it, is that we have been around this block before. Now we’ve learned how to live better at home than two years ago in that first COVID panic. Now we simply slip our masks back on and dust off our familiar shelter-at-home habits. We’ve done this before. So how do we get through it? We get through it together -- online! More and more dancers are experiencing the big value of online dancing during COVID and for the many other reasons they can’t meet in person. Classes now flip easily between in-person, zoom, and hybrid sessions. ONLINE DANCE BENEFITS: Though not as wonderful as feeling your partner’s weight against your arms, online dances are 80% as effective to keep up our dance skills, fitness and spirits. Online dancers can see each other and talk together, encouraging complementing, flirting. cracking jokes. And your dancing is real. While dancing solely in online classes in 2020, Mike says his health improved, he lost weight and was able to cut down on certain medications. Happily, we now have a global proliferation, nay, a Tsunami, of online exercise in many forms. Yet so many online exercise programs feel so… unsatisfying. Some require thousands of $$ to buy a fancy big machine, plus monthly membership fees, all for getting you to do only one, or a few types of movements! Riding a stationary bicycle or lifting weights has limited benefits, not teaching you new useful or creative skills. Fancy videos to pretend you are moving, or a fake person coaching you… mehhh for such expensive tricks. You will soon tire of monotonous virtual routines. Even with real people, the same exercise over & over, especially non-interactive, is boring, NOT satisfying. So which online exercise programs best satisfy our important needs? Ones with: REAL COMMUNITY -- Being online with real people to see and talk with is highly satisfying, for our important human need for social connection. INTERACTIVE -- “Judith,” though highly educated, had never learned how to follow in dancing until our Swing class this fall. It’s a fascinating skill that can be taught, even online to some extent. While online obviously limits physical contact, verbal and visual interaction are still possible. Even some lead and follow dance skills can be done giving simple visual cues. Giggling will ensue. Try it! TEACHING NEW SKILLS -- Many partner dancing skills can be taught online, giving more valuable solo practice time to improve dance agility and enjoyment until dancing in-person again. While any exercise helps our body, our minds are hungry to keep learning new skills, new patterns, new ways of moving, helping prevent Alzheimer’s and keeping our mental cognition strong. Partner dancing is THE BEST exercise for this, says Stanford University’s Social Dance Department Chair, Richard Powers, citing many medical studies. LOW IMPACT – Dancer “Phil” recently fell playing pickleball, with severe injuries. He vowed to me that, as soon as fully recovered, he’s coming back to our much safer, low- impact partner dancing. Partner dancing has much fewer injuries than most other sports. In fact, good dance partners hold each other up, protecting each other from injury. Even online, few activities give as rewarding, SATISFYING a feeling as partner dancing. Face-to-face in harmonious, win-win movement, gives us social satisfaction, even during Omicron, though, hopefully a pause much shorter than last year’s. Ahhhhh This week an undersea volcano erupted in Tonga sending a global Tsunami wave. Our nation is also in a political tsunami. But don’t worry, social dancing solves ALL those world problems. Dancing puts YOU in a happy, healthy state to handle all that life brings you. Dancing is your undersea volcano of joy, sending waves of goodness around your world. But YOUR hardest part is taking that first step. So right now, in our Omicron pause, reboot your exercise life in a satisfying new direction. Take YOUR first step now into our wonderful world of ONLINE partner dancing. Your future partners will thank you. Visit www.PeggyDance.weebly.com |
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