Why Do YOU Dance?
Inspired by Jean Claude Gallotta's whimsical Des gens qui dansent Jacob's Pillow is on a mission to find out why people around the world dance. Tell us why YOU dance via email, Facebook, or Twitter- then check back often to view your response and many others.
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Maybe you take yoga class or wiggle around when your foot is asleep, or perhaps you're a former professional ballerina or a current hip-hop dancer, or maybe you burn up the floor at the club every weekend or dance alone in your room with the radio on...everyone dances in one way or another.
We're asking people around the world to tell us why they dance and as we receive responses via email, Twitter and Facebook, we post them here. So go ahead, tell us why you dance!
Contact Jacob's Pillow on Facebook and Twitter. Please see the bottom of this page for our email address.
For more information on Jean-Claude Gallotta's Des gens qui dansent, please click here.
Why Do YOU Dance?
because I need to feel again and again like flying
-Katerina Tsapaki, via Facebook
Man cannot live by bread alone.........so I dance.
-rajiv, via email
After 16 yrs of career as an actor/stagemanager, the exigencies and demands to encourage and improve my duties and responsibilities as is, took me to diversified and accept challenges as a TALLERISTA-workshop trainer. that's why i dance, bringing the wksps for trainees with a purpose on how to create/move/characterize a piece with a meaningful objective and also i want to consider the possibility to been trained at jacobs pillow 's wksp to maintain and received the proper and authorized discipline with the new and vanguard tendencies on dance!!! WHY DO I DANCE = . . . I'M SEEKING TO WORK IN THE CRAFT USING EXERCISES DESIGNED TO FOCUS ACTORS/TRAINEES IN A SCENE, HOPING THAT ALL OF THEM WILL BE CREATIVE AND WILL ATTEND THE BEST CHALLENGE, DONDE TAL VEZ PUEDAN VIVIR UN MUNDO MÁGICO Y LLENO DE PASIÓN!!!
-mars, via email
There's many ways of saying it succinctly and in single sentences. That would be the most effective and philosophically clean way of putting it. And I suppose to breathe fully would be my answer. When I'm in the middle of dancing, entwined in some mess or order of movement I can breathe deeply, with satiated calm. I can tell when I'm satisfied, when I can feel the work of myself and others. (work as in fun) There is precious little art in this culture. A place where people can connect to an unnameable experience is mostly ignored. A place where we can become more complex correspondence, through dance. Through art communication is non literal and barely even sensical, yet naked and intimate and human (sexual yes too, but only because it is part of the whole deal.) Mostly lost to us is a deep satisfied mystery, a senseless and calm aware breathe, unexplained and critical to our existence. We disintegrate the literal in those places. Those moments where I cannot explain what I am doing, or why I am there, or who I am for if not my 'self.' Those times are (why) /for (I) dance.
-Evan Foster, via email
I dance because the doctor's told me I never would again...who wouldn't take on that challenge!?
-Leighann Kowalsky, via email
Words can not express why I dance. So, I dance- to express the words I can not speak.
- Adara K., via email
I dance because I can now, when I wasn't supposed to in my youth. I dance because I don't have a great verbal vernacular, however, my movement speaks for me. I dance because gay latino men from the ghettos of New York usually cannot. I dance to live and breathe.
-Michael "Cabbie" Caban via email
Dance is magical it generates beauty, being beutiful because of dance is one of the things I most love being.
-Liliana Melgoza Moreno via email
I dance because it's my meditation to life, my acknowledgment of a higher energy beyond my individual self and because it is my sanctuary in an often brutal world.
-Janet Oelklaus via email
"Dancing is not so much a choice to me as a need. When one is thirsty, one drinks water. When I hear music, my body naturally starts moving because this is what it needs to do to stay alive."
-Aimee Puskar via email
I dance because sometimes words just aren't enough!
-Lynda P. Fitzgerald via email
Lo que siento cuando bailo solo lo puedo decir y sentir con mi cuerpo, pero si estoy muy segura de que es mi gran pasion y aunque a veces me deja sin aire yo se que es para respirar junto a mi. Yo respiro Danza.
-Patricia Ortega via email
To feel as magnificent as music.
-Abby Saxon via email
Because my soul scream ¡dance!
-Erika Torres via email
I would honestly have to give a list as to why I dance:
1. It's a part of who I am
2. It keeps me alive at the best and worst of times
3. It's a great way to communicate with gravity and audiences
4. It's loads of fun
5. It's part of what I want to do with my career
6. It makes me smile
7. I can't breathe without it
- Sarah Lightman via email
i dance because it's my first love
-Anonymous via email
If I didn't move every day my whole self would shrivel up and be of no use to the world.
-Ilaan Egeland Mazzini via email
Movement is life and part of the definition of life. When I do not move, I feel less alive, like my breath is stopped. I am compelled to move, it does not feel like a choice. Dancing is an expression of one's physicality, ideas, and emotions, and extends energy into space.
- Alison Ozer via email
It's my soul. I can't function very well in the world if I'm not actively working.
- Shannon via Facebook
it makes me feel free, and it's the best way to communicate what words cannot say (and even what they can, in a much more emotionally touching, meaningful, moving and visceral way). that's also why i choreograph (which is what i do more now than anything).
- Eileen via Facebook
I dance, bc it's my way of celebrating life.Just like other music&arts, but more exuberant, ebullient, effusive!
- @martinemussies via Twitter
I dance because it makes my entire body smile.
- Halli Chamberlain, Development Intern, Jacob's Pillow
Dance is who I am, not what I do. It is interwoven into every strand of my being.
- via Twitter @GraziellaB
I dance because it's what brings my soul joy!
- via Twitter @iceydeville
I daaance because it makes me think and connect or care about what I'm thinking. I feel better. I feel more there, alive. I smile and I smile hard and harder. I love the sensation of movement itself. For me, moving has something to do with being free and being honest and being yourself.
- Anonymous
Because it feels good and natural.
- Clare O'Donnell via Facebook
I've never felt anything so fulfilling on both a spiritual and physical level as dancing. Inside a framework of technique, there is absolute freedom of expression. What elevates dance above other art, to me, is its ability to engage viewers just as powerfully as performers on both levels. The best dance engages the mind and the imagination as well as the body.
- Jeff Roudabush, Operations and Production Manager, Jacob's Pillow
Because I HAVE TO
- Lisa Thurrell via Facebook
I dance because it feels so damn good.
- Alison Hart, Individual Support Manager, Jacob's Pillow
Because it makes me happy - it's the expression of life!
- Tracy Frederickson via Facebook
I dance, because it makes me happy and it's in my blood :)
- Kris Nobles via Facebook
There is no other way to express the things that can only be expressed through dance.
- Kaity Barnes via Facebook
I dance because there is something inside me that wants out - it wants to move and express and be beautiful and feel good.
- Anonymous
Because without it, my soul is incomplete.
- Carla Santia via Facebook
Because my body loves to express stories.
- Frederic Troadec via Facebook
"i don't know what it is, but i need it" ~antonio gades, "carmen"
- Ed Young via Facebook
Because there's no greater feeling in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Miriam Louie Brown via Facebook
Pays the rent.
- French Clements via Facebook
BECAUSE spontaneous movement brings joy to my soul!!!!!
- Patsy Garcia, Office Manager, Jacob's Pillow
Because an empty room excites me.
- Heather Fick, Artist Services Intern, Jacob's Pillow
i just dont know....i gives me an adrenaline rush, n it feels great! my mom said i was dancing before i could ever learn to walk
- Nuran Syaziyah via Facebook
because it makes me happy
- Valerie Orsborne via Facebook
its an expression of my soul and how I express myself in ways words can not. Its what makes me feel most alive.
- Amy Gardner, 2008 Pillow Intern, via Facebook
it's my life, feels soulful and rich and a must do!!
- Rachelle Smith-Stallman via Facebook
Dancing has been a spiritual journey for me, it makes me happy and I have had the opportunity to meet and dance with the most beautiful and inspirational dancers.
- Elisabeth Depergola via Facebook
Dance is a way to communicate my deepest thoughts and emotions. Dance makes me feel alive and filled with joy!
- Leslie Grace Stevenson via Facebook
What else would I do?
- Erin Rehberg via Facebook
Love
- Corey Landolt via Facebook
To dance is to breathe.
- Wendy Felder Cutting via Facebook
I couldn't help it.
- Lara Benusis via Facebook
It is therapeutic.
- Hattie Proteau via Facebook
I don't know, I just feel so good doing it.
- Darcie Sosa via Facebook
I don't dance.......... i fly.........
- Maria Pappa via Facebook
Because my heart beats.
- Alison Loebel Bertoni via Facebook
I can't help myself - I can hear my heart beat.
- Judith Blak, Assistant to the General Manager, Jacob's Pillow
I feel God and my body moves, my body moves and I feel God... can't.... help.... myself.... must... flow... and stop... and move.... and breathe to flow.... and feel the music and energy flow through me and around me..... i can't not dance, to do so would be denying my soul's pure expression, if I'm here in this body I should be dancing.
- Erin Lovett Sherman via Facebook
It's although I don't have a choice. Dance is what I am!
- Pilar Wilder via Facebook
Because if i don't i'll suffocate.
- Danica Robinson Kalemdaroglu via Facebook
Because it makes me feel buoyant and happy and liberated and (momentarily) without a care.
- Susan Zuckerman via Facebook
I dance because It is my escape from the busy world around me.
I dance because It allows me to be free and creative.
I dance because it is a creative way to release negative energy!
I dance because it is a way to express any type of emotion
I dance because the word DANCE is so Awesome!
- Tyra Jackson, Business Intern, Jacob's Pillow
I dance:
because my heart beats
to release my tension
because I love to move
- Alison Loebel Bertoni via email
Because I want to look like Marge Champion when I'm 90!
- Mariclare Hulbert, Communications Manager, Jacob's Pillow
I dance to feel invisible.
- Anonymous
I dance because the only times I've ever felt truly RIGHT, I've been dancing.
- via Twitter @sellytapgirl
Dance is nourishment for the body, mind and soul. Without movement my energy stagnates & I stop observing my surroundings... Dancing reminds me that we are surrounded by beauty. We just have to remember to notice.
- via Twitter @amej
I dance because it keeps me sane. It's my drug.
- via Twitter @cgodeghesi
I Dance Because It Saves Me From...
- Suzette via email
I dance because it makes me feel alive and human.
- Blair Cronin via email
When I hear music (sometimes in my head) my feet and body start moving ... it's like magic. I stop to hear the rhythm. I love it! It makes me sooo0 happy and gives me relief when there's too much stress. I want to dance till I'm 104! (p.s. love the video)
- Bernadette Njoku via email
Well , why people dance? For me , Dance is a part of me. I dance because it helps me to be mysef, connect to myself and understand my self. Dance helps us to experience, express , enrich and be happy. It also helps me to connect me to the tradition and society.< br/>- Sonal Nimbkar
to be in life and share life experiences with fun and joy....
- Emily Wadhams via email
As someone who has been immersed in dance my entire life, I find this question difficult. There have been many moments in my life that dancing for myself has taken a back seat to sharing the gift of dance with others. However, you might just as well ask "Why do you breathe?" as "Why do you dance?." It's nearly as essential and involuntary. When I'm not dancing, I'm talking about dance. I'm watching dance. I'm sharing dance. I'm thinking about dance. My other interests all have a way of coming back around to dance... even this computer sitting at my fingertips. Why? Because like the air I breathe it has been a life-giving, life-sustaining force. Each inhale has been a new experience - sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter - but always taken in and then sent forth into what I accomplish, what I create. I'm quite sure that only when I exhale my last will the dance in my mind and in my body cease. And even then my essence may dance on. Thanks for reminding me why I dance!!
- Nichelle Strzepek via Facebook
Is there anything better in life to do? Dance relieves the stress of the day, can bring so much joy to others, even if you're not a 'professional' dancer...just try a performance at a nursing home. And there's nothing greater than sharing my love of dance with my students and watching them 'get it' and enjoy it all with me.
- April Mosher via email
I dance because dancing brings out the best in people. It frees the body and soul and brings us together. It banishes the blues. It strengthens the body. It feels good!
- Anonymous via email
I dance because I have to. It's my nirvana, my drug, my church. The need to move comes from the soul, and it's a power bigger than myself. It's difficult to exactly articulate "why", but those who also have it understand...
- Jessi Day via email
Dance is life to me as I know...My first best friend and true love...My soul survivor, my way to freedom..In times of need and despair, in joy and harmony, and in confusion and self doubt, it is there inside you. And it is a tool for self discovery.
- Anonymous via email
I dance because dancing integrates, expands, challenges, and celebrates every aspect of my being - mental, physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. How fortunate I've been to dance!
- Elizabeth Van Vleck, Development Intern, Jacob's Pillow
As Snoopy says- to dance is to live. Movement is life and part of the definition of life. When I do not move, I feel less alive, like my breath is stopped. I am compelled to move, it does not feel like a choice. Dancing is an expression of one's physicality, ideas, and emotions, and extends energy into space. It is so basic and primal. Along with music, it ties us into the rhythms and energy of the universe and each other. Learning to dance, developing one's own technique, as well as dancing socially, choreographing, and performing with others, can be a spiritual journey. We learn of our possibilities and limits. We learn of our own and other's aspirations, how we can interact with others, nature, and space. The Dance can be a mirror and reflection of our souls. It allows us to express love as well as pain, to play, to create community. When I move, especially with inner or outer music, I feel more integrated and less caught up with the troubles of the mind. Connection through movement and contact can bring sublime sense of shared beauty, joy, and peace.
-Alison Ozer, Amherst, Ma., via email
We're asking people around the world to tell us why they dance and as we receive responses via email, Twitter and Facebook, we post them here. So go ahead, tell us why you dance!
Contact Jacob's Pillow on Facebook and Twitter. Please see the bottom of this page for our email address.
For more information on Jean-Claude Gallotta's Des gens qui dansent, please click here.
Why Do YOU Dance?
because I need to feel again and again like flying
-Katerina Tsapaki, via Facebook
Man cannot live by bread alone.........so I dance.
-rajiv, via email
After 16 yrs of career as an actor/stagemanager, the exigencies and demands to encourage and improve my duties and responsibilities as is, took me to diversified and accept challenges as a TALLERISTA-workshop trainer. that's why i dance, bringing the wksps for trainees with a purpose on how to create/move/characterize a piece with a meaningful objective and also i want to consider the possibility to been trained at jacobs pillow 's wksp to maintain and received the proper and authorized discipline with the new and vanguard tendencies on dance!!! WHY DO I DANCE = . . . I'M SEEKING TO WORK IN THE CRAFT USING EXERCISES DESIGNED TO FOCUS ACTORS/TRAINEES IN A SCENE, HOPING THAT ALL OF THEM WILL BE CREATIVE AND WILL ATTEND THE BEST CHALLENGE, DONDE TAL VEZ PUEDAN VIVIR UN MUNDO MÁGICO Y LLENO DE PASIÓN!!!
-mars, via email
There's many ways of saying it succinctly and in single sentences. That would be the most effective and philosophically clean way of putting it. And I suppose to breathe fully would be my answer. When I'm in the middle of dancing, entwined in some mess or order of movement I can breathe deeply, with satiated calm. I can tell when I'm satisfied, when I can feel the work of myself and others. (work as in fun) There is precious little art in this culture. A place where people can connect to an unnameable experience is mostly ignored. A place where we can become more complex correspondence, through dance. Through art communication is non literal and barely even sensical, yet naked and intimate and human (sexual yes too, but only because it is part of the whole deal.) Mostly lost to us is a deep satisfied mystery, a senseless and calm aware breathe, unexplained and critical to our existence. We disintegrate the literal in those places. Those moments where I cannot explain what I am doing, or why I am there, or who I am for if not my 'self.' Those times are (why) /for (I) dance.
-Evan Foster, via email
I dance because the doctor's told me I never would again...who wouldn't take on that challenge!?
-Leighann Kowalsky, via email
Words can not express why I dance. So, I dance- to express the words I can not speak.
- Adara K., via email
I dance because I can now, when I wasn't supposed to in my youth. I dance because I don't have a great verbal vernacular, however, my movement speaks for me. I dance because gay latino men from the ghettos of New York usually cannot. I dance to live and breathe.
-Michael "Cabbie" Caban via email
Dance is magical it generates beauty, being beutiful because of dance is one of the things I most love being.
-Liliana Melgoza Moreno via email
I dance because it's my meditation to life, my acknowledgment of a higher energy beyond my individual self and because it is my sanctuary in an often brutal world.
-Janet Oelklaus via email
"Dancing is not so much a choice to me as a need. When one is thirsty, one drinks water. When I hear music, my body naturally starts moving because this is what it needs to do to stay alive."
-Aimee Puskar via email
I dance because sometimes words just aren't enough!
-Lynda P. Fitzgerald via email
Lo que siento cuando bailo solo lo puedo decir y sentir con mi cuerpo, pero si estoy muy segura de que es mi gran pasion y aunque a veces me deja sin aire yo se que es para respirar junto a mi. Yo respiro Danza.
-Patricia Ortega via email
To feel as magnificent as music.
-Abby Saxon via email
Because my soul scream ¡dance!
-Erika Torres via email
I would honestly have to give a list as to why I dance:
1. It's a part of who I am
2. It keeps me alive at the best and worst of times
3. It's a great way to communicate with gravity and audiences
4. It's loads of fun
5. It's part of what I want to do with my career
6. It makes me smile
7. I can't breathe without it
- Sarah Lightman via email
i dance because it's my first love
-Anonymous via email
If I didn't move every day my whole self would shrivel up and be of no use to the world.
-Ilaan Egeland Mazzini via email
Movement is life and part of the definition of life. When I do not move, I feel less alive, like my breath is stopped. I am compelled to move, it does not feel like a choice. Dancing is an expression of one's physicality, ideas, and emotions, and extends energy into space.
- Alison Ozer via email
It's my soul. I can't function very well in the world if I'm not actively working.
- Shannon via Facebook
it makes me feel free, and it's the best way to communicate what words cannot say (and even what they can, in a much more emotionally touching, meaningful, moving and visceral way). that's also why i choreograph (which is what i do more now than anything).
- Eileen via Facebook
I dance, bc it's my way of celebrating life.Just like other music&arts, but more exuberant, ebullient, effusive!
- @martinemussies via Twitter
I dance because it makes my entire body smile.
- Halli Chamberlain, Development Intern, Jacob's Pillow
Dance is who I am, not what I do. It is interwoven into every strand of my being.
- via Twitter @GraziellaB
I dance because it's what brings my soul joy!
- via Twitter @iceydeville
I daaance because it makes me think and connect or care about what I'm thinking. I feel better. I feel more there, alive. I smile and I smile hard and harder. I love the sensation of movement itself. For me, moving has something to do with being free and being honest and being yourself.
- Anonymous
Because it feels good and natural.
- Clare O'Donnell via Facebook
I've never felt anything so fulfilling on both a spiritual and physical level as dancing. Inside a framework of technique, there is absolute freedom of expression. What elevates dance above other art, to me, is its ability to engage viewers just as powerfully as performers on both levels. The best dance engages the mind and the imagination as well as the body.
- Jeff Roudabush, Operations and Production Manager, Jacob's Pillow
Because I HAVE TO
- Lisa Thurrell via Facebook
I dance because it feels so damn good.
- Alison Hart, Individual Support Manager, Jacob's Pillow
Because it makes me happy - it's the expression of life!
- Tracy Frederickson via Facebook
I dance, because it makes me happy and it's in my blood :)
- Kris Nobles via Facebook
There is no other way to express the things that can only be expressed through dance.
- Kaity Barnes via Facebook
I dance because there is something inside me that wants out - it wants to move and express and be beautiful and feel good.
- Anonymous
Because without it, my soul is incomplete.
- Carla Santia via Facebook
Because my body loves to express stories.
- Frederic Troadec via Facebook
"i don't know what it is, but i need it" ~antonio gades, "carmen"
- Ed Young via Facebook
Because there's no greater feeling in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Miriam Louie Brown via Facebook
Pays the rent.
- French Clements via Facebook
BECAUSE spontaneous movement brings joy to my soul!!!!!
- Patsy Garcia, Office Manager, Jacob's Pillow
Because an empty room excites me.
- Heather Fick, Artist Services Intern, Jacob's Pillow
i just dont know....i gives me an adrenaline rush, n it feels great! my mom said i was dancing before i could ever learn to walk
- Nuran Syaziyah via Facebook
because it makes me happy
- Valerie Orsborne via Facebook
its an expression of my soul and how I express myself in ways words can not. Its what makes me feel most alive.
- Amy Gardner, 2008 Pillow Intern, via Facebook
it's my life, feels soulful and rich and a must do!!
- Rachelle Smith-Stallman via Facebook
Dancing has been a spiritual journey for me, it makes me happy and I have had the opportunity to meet and dance with the most beautiful and inspirational dancers.
- Elisabeth Depergola via Facebook
Dance is a way to communicate my deepest thoughts and emotions. Dance makes me feel alive and filled with joy!
- Leslie Grace Stevenson via Facebook
What else would I do?
- Erin Rehberg via Facebook
Love
- Corey Landolt via Facebook
To dance is to breathe.
- Wendy Felder Cutting via Facebook
I couldn't help it.
- Lara Benusis via Facebook
It is therapeutic.
- Hattie Proteau via Facebook
I don't know, I just feel so good doing it.
- Darcie Sosa via Facebook
I don't dance.......... i fly.........
- Maria Pappa via Facebook
Because my heart beats.
- Alison Loebel Bertoni via Facebook
I can't help myself - I can hear my heart beat.
- Judith Blak, Assistant to the General Manager, Jacob's Pillow
I feel God and my body moves, my body moves and I feel God... can't.... help.... myself.... must... flow... and stop... and move.... and breathe to flow.... and feel the music and energy flow through me and around me..... i can't not dance, to do so would be denying my soul's pure expression, if I'm here in this body I should be dancing.
- Erin Lovett Sherman via Facebook
It's although I don't have a choice. Dance is what I am!
- Pilar Wilder via Facebook
Because if i don't i'll suffocate.
- Danica Robinson Kalemdaroglu via Facebook
Because it makes me feel buoyant and happy and liberated and (momentarily) without a care.
- Susan Zuckerman via Facebook
I dance because It is my escape from the busy world around me.
I dance because It allows me to be free and creative.
I dance because it is a creative way to release negative energy!
I dance because it is a way to express any type of emotion
I dance because the word DANCE is so Awesome!
- Tyra Jackson, Business Intern, Jacob's Pillow
I dance:
because my heart beats
to release my tension
because I love to move
- Alison Loebel Bertoni via email
Because I want to look like Marge Champion when I'm 90!
- Mariclare Hulbert, Communications Manager, Jacob's Pillow
I dance to feel invisible.
- Anonymous
I dance because the only times I've ever felt truly RIGHT, I've been dancing.
- via Twitter @sellytapgirl
Dance is nourishment for the body, mind and soul. Without movement my energy stagnates & I stop observing my surroundings... Dancing reminds me that we are surrounded by beauty. We just have to remember to notice.
- via Twitter @amej
I dance because it keeps me sane. It's my drug.
- via Twitter @cgodeghesi
I Dance Because It Saves Me From...
- Suzette via email
I dance because it makes me feel alive and human.
- Blair Cronin via email
When I hear music (sometimes in my head) my feet and body start moving ... it's like magic. I stop to hear the rhythm. I love it! It makes me sooo0 happy and gives me relief when there's too much stress. I want to dance till I'm 104! (p.s. love the video)
- Bernadette Njoku via email
Well , why people dance? For me , Dance is a part of me. I dance because it helps me to be mysef, connect to myself and understand my self. Dance helps us to experience, express , enrich and be happy. It also helps me to connect me to the tradition and society.< br/>- Sonal Nimbkar
to be in life and share life experiences with fun and joy....
- Emily Wadhams via email
As someone who has been immersed in dance my entire life, I find this question difficult. There have been many moments in my life that dancing for myself has taken a back seat to sharing the gift of dance with others. However, you might just as well ask "Why do you breathe?" as "Why do you dance?." It's nearly as essential and involuntary. When I'm not dancing, I'm talking about dance. I'm watching dance. I'm sharing dance. I'm thinking about dance. My other interests all have a way of coming back around to dance... even this computer sitting at my fingertips. Why? Because like the air I breathe it has been a life-giving, life-sustaining force. Each inhale has been a new experience - sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter - but always taken in and then sent forth into what I accomplish, what I create. I'm quite sure that only when I exhale my last will the dance in my mind and in my body cease. And even then my essence may dance on. Thanks for reminding me why I dance!!
- Nichelle Strzepek via Facebook
Is there anything better in life to do? Dance relieves the stress of the day, can bring so much joy to others, even if you're not a 'professional' dancer...just try a performance at a nursing home. And there's nothing greater than sharing my love of dance with my students and watching them 'get it' and enjoy it all with me.
- April Mosher via email
I dance because dancing brings out the best in people. It frees the body and soul and brings us together. It banishes the blues. It strengthens the body. It feels good!
- Anonymous via email
I dance because I have to. It's my nirvana, my drug, my church. The need to move comes from the soul, and it's a power bigger than myself. It's difficult to exactly articulate "why", but those who also have it understand...
- Jessi Day via email
Dance is life to me as I know...My first best friend and true love...My soul survivor, my way to freedom..In times of need and despair, in joy and harmony, and in confusion and self doubt, it is there inside you. And it is a tool for self discovery.
- Anonymous via email
I dance because dancing integrates, expands, challenges, and celebrates every aspect of my being - mental, physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. How fortunate I've been to dance!
- Elizabeth Van Vleck, Development Intern, Jacob's Pillow
As Snoopy says- to dance is to live. Movement is life and part of the definition of life. When I do not move, I feel less alive, like my breath is stopped. I am compelled to move, it does not feel like a choice. Dancing is an expression of one's physicality, ideas, and emotions, and extends energy into space. It is so basic and primal. Along with music, it ties us into the rhythms and energy of the universe and each other. Learning to dance, developing one's own technique, as well as dancing socially, choreographing, and performing with others, can be a spiritual journey. We learn of our possibilities and limits. We learn of our own and other's aspirations, how we can interact with others, nature, and space. The Dance can be a mirror and reflection of our souls. It allows us to express love as well as pain, to play, to create community. When I move, especially with inner or outer music, I feel more integrated and less caught up with the troubles of the mind. Connection through movement and contact can bring sublime sense of shared beauty, joy, and peace.
-Alison Ozer, Amherst, Ma., via email
