Enthousiasmos

I went dancing last Saturday night at a recurring 80s dance music event called "Rock the Casbah." It's not the best, but I fucking love to dance. I'm not the best, either! When I was about 10 or 11, I went to my first dance at summer camp. I heard "Rock Lobster" for the first time there. I both learned how to dance from my friends and decided to dance however the fuck I wanted. I learned right away that the great thing about dancing is that you get to express music through your body: it's participation! At Rock the Casbah, "Add It Up" came on, and my friend said, "this song sucks for dancing." No way, I thought - as tired and beloved-to-me-in-8th-grade as that song is, I can bring back its poignancy when I dance to it. I've always been (am not as much now, but I remember well being) extremely self-conscious, but I make this one exception. That first night after the camp dance, my friends mocked me for my crazy-style dancing. I was embarrassed, but I've gotten over it, and I still dance like a fuckin' spaz, or "like a 4 year old," as Randy kindly said.
Dancing is also synesthesia. As such, it's a spiritual practice. It's like the Greek idea of enthousiasmos - letting god inhabit your body and act through you. It's the eucharist for happy exuberance. Of course, my mind is not always on spirituality when I'm dancing to "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5, but I think that if anything is, dancing, like sex, eating, or any other celebration of pleasure must be inherently sacred.

Comments

[Adam]

Wow props to this post it really got me thinking, wow.
I love to dance as well and I relate to a lot of what you are saying in this. I love how you compare dancing to the greek word enthousiamos of letting God act threw you, this is so true for dancing in how the music flows threw a person which truley can create amazing experinces. Dancing really is a special and sacred thing.