Dance like no one is watching; Part 2

Posted on 25th November, by Tania in Blog

I have already written about the joy of dancing like no one is watching. And now I want to add ourselves into the equation.

No Judgement

There is no doubt that I dance my best, and enjoy myself the most, when I am not watching myself. When we don’t watch ourselves we are much more likely to be more connected with our bodies and how they feel during movement. We are likely to dance more freely and more like ourselves, as we won’t have our self-judgement hat on – because we can’t see anything to judge! Hooray 😉

Accepting Ourselves

Self-judgement is rarely helpful. Self-acceptance on the other hand, very useful. It is always great to asses where we are, where we want to be, and how to get there. But doing it through self-love, rather than self-criticism will lead to a much nicer, happier journey.

Mirror-less

This is why I love dancing without mirrors. I get to dance and express more freely and more like myself, instead of reaching for an external ‘ideal’ which can distract us away from ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, mirrors have their uses of course, but it is always good to have a balance in life (and in dance!)

Get Dancing

It is worth noting that when I taught my adult ballet classes, I did focus on practicing the correct alignments within people’s own bodies – it’s not all swooshing and freedom 😉 However once we got to the travelling across the room and learning small phrases I really loved people to let go more and really move. The techniques come with repetition, but in the end they are just tools to be used to help you dance more like you! So be you. No judgements.