Today I was sitting in the library preparing for the high school kids’ arrival when some of the elementary little ones showed up. I told them they could come back after 5 to get homework help, knowing very well they were just looking for a form of entertainment which is why I started the after school program in the first place.
In the library I always have classical music playing. I have a few cd compilations of well known (to Westerners) pieces and artists that are constant background. The little ladies were hanging out in the hall outside the library and the cd finished. I stood up to put in another and the girls ran in the room and asked me to play the same on again. Not understanding why, I said I was going to put in another. They requested the same kind of music, and I agreed. Quickly they surried back out into the hall. I peeked around the corner, curiously, to find them dancing what one would call, “ballet moves”. Natrually, I cried a little. They froze when they saw me. Immediately thoughts to teaching dance here came flooding through my mind.
“That dancing you are doing, where have you seen it before?”
“On TV.”
“Do you know what that kind of dance is called.”
She looks down and shakes her head.
“What kind of clothes where they wearing?”
She makes a shape with her hands signifying a strapless top, “Like this, then it goes down to a fluffy skirt with lots of layers… it’s a short skirt.”
And of course, the tears come back, but fortunately not one falls.
“That kind of dance is called ballet.”
She knods.
“What is that kind of dance called?”
“ballet”
“Turn the volume up and dance for me more, please!”
“Yay!” they yelp in unison as they run together and spin in and out or arabesque poses.
The few volunteers that I work with that know of my professional past have encouraged me to give dance classes. To which I respond with excuses of, “How?” no mirror, no shoes, no tights, no leotards, no proper floor, no barre, etc. There wasn’t an ounce of me that wanted to teach dance before. If I did, it would have been purely out of feeling an obligation to do so. Feeling a need to teach them body awareness and pride through movement. But, today, my mind changed…
It could be beautiful for me and for them.
Would it be possible, this late in the game, to undertake that missions of physical self awareness?
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