Rewire and Release: An Introduction
“What happens to our body attitudes as we consider ourselves dancers? Filtering daily life through an intelligent, informed physicality takes us beyond the ego, fame, or commercialism of dancing…We may be doctors, therapists, parents, pastry chefs, organic farmers, teachers, or CEOs of thriving companies, but our embodied dancer-selves are alive and well—even if we never put a foot onstage”.
—Andrea Olsen, The Place of Dance: A Somatic Guide to Dancing and Dance-Making
Dance, without exaggeration, has made me who I am. It’s an odd realization, considering music has always had my heart, but I never felt particularly connected to movement until I walked into my first ballet class. I had always found dance beautiful, and was mesmerized during the Nutcracker performances that my mom and I looked forward to each year. But I see now that I was living un-embodied to a greater degree than I could have imagined until the day I did my first plié.
What a relief it is to awaken to the knowledge that we are designed to move. And this is not just a warm and fuzzy sentiment—dance can literally re-wire the brain. An article from Harvard Medical School called “Dancing and the Brain” states.
“…Dance helps reduce stress, increases levels of the feel-good hormone serotonin, and helps develop new neural connections, especially in regions involved in executive function, long-term memory, and spatial recognition.”
According to a BBC article, “In one long-term study, volunteers in their 60s were asked either to take up dancing, once a week for 18 months, or do a more traditional workout. After 18 months, brain scans revealed both groups experienced an increase in the size of the hippocampus, but the change was more pronounced in the dancing group.”
Sit with that for a moment. Dance is powerful enough to develop new neural pathways. And it is something that every one of us has the ability to do. Dance does not require a stage or a classroom. It does not require external validation, or even a witness. Just you, and a willingness to try.
Dance has been shown to aid in the treatment of mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD. It has been shown to help process trauma and to prevent and slow the progression of dementia and Parkinson’s Disease. It also brings joy. Release. And connection with oneself.
No matter why you do it, dance. Keep your “embodied dancer-selves”, as Olsen says, “alive and well”. I promise you will be richer for it.