"When Did You Start Dancing?"
One of the first questions people ask me is, “When did you start dancing?” My usual response is “Well...my mom put me in a tap class at age 4, but honestly I’ve been dancing my whole life.” Martha Graham, the mother of modern dance as she’s been called, said “I did not choose. I was chosen to be a dancer.” This statement resonates a lot with me because I also feel that I did not choose to be a dancer. Being a dancer is who I am.
I am many things. I am a daughter, a sister, an aunt and so on. I did not choose these identities but it is who I am nonetheless. The discipline of dance has shaped me into the person I am today and I am grateful for this gift. What I am most proud of is my role as a dance educator.
My mission is to inform and redefine what it means to be able to dance. I want people to know that dance is available to all regardless of ability level. And I’d like to continue the strides forward to inform the public that dancing is a natural human response to the rhythms we hear. It’s instinctual that our bodies want to move when we hear a song that we enjoy. The first rhythm we are exposed to is our mother’s heartbeat. In fact, a baby synchronizes its own pulse and breathing rate with its mother’s heartbeat while in utero (Ivanov et al., 2009).
Pablo Picasso said, “Children are natural born artists. The problem is how to remain artists once they grow up." Like Picasso, I believe we were born as creative human beings with the desire to express ourselves through music and dance. But what I hear too often is, “I’m not a dancer.” or “I can’t dance.”
So, I want us to think about these four basic ideas.
Before I could breath outside of my mother’s womb I could stretch, and twist and kick.
Before I could utter a word, I could communicate through basic gestures.
Before I could walk, I could wiggle and shake to the music I heard.
And before I knew how to judge myself I could naturally and instinctively dance.
It is because of my convictions that I have started this website. I hope to support teachers, parents, and children in the pursuit of dance education and provide them with resources that encourage them to make dance a part of their everyday lives. The name “Shoes Off Mommy,” is the title of my first children’s book COMING SOON. It is an inspirational story of a young girl’s journey to becoming a professional dancer.
Children are natural born movers. Let's give them a chance to dance.