"Dance is always sacred and always has a purpose. It is to honour the giver of life and the protector of life ... People dance together to celebrate the harvest or freedom or community. They mark life's passages, such as birth, naming, initiations into adulthood, healing, wedding and death. In Africa everyone dances." (1)

I love to dance. As an eight- and nine-year-old girl, I danced with a group of schoolmates on the theatre stage of the city where I lived. I delighted in wearing the colourful costumes and dancing to the spirited music. We performed the Peruvian folk dance, "El Carnavalito", for which I had to wear a huge embroidered and beaded hat. For the Italian folk dance, "La Tarantella", I wore coloured ribbons in my hair and played the "pandereta" (tambourine). I really treasured the experience. My mom and aunt delighted in doing my hair and makeup for the occasion. At a school presentation in grade six, I danced our traditional Uruguayan folk dance, "El Pericon". At family gatherings, usually at my cousins' birthdays, we would dance to the Beatles and Latin rhythms.

As a primary schoolgirl, my mother took me to movie matin é es on Sundays. The movies were either Mexican melodramas with beautiful singers or Spanish movies with incredible Flamenco dancers. Two very accomplished actresses at the time were Sara Montiel and Carmen Sevilla. I would depart from the theatre enthralled by their talent and the beauty of their dance.

Becoming a teenager and coming to a new country made socializing with other kids more difficult. All the merry creativity of earlier childhood went underground. However, if I heard a favourite song on the radio, I would dance wildly and freely in my living room or bedroom.

Now in my middle years, I have decided that I will give myself permission to grow up and explore new things. For example, dancing. Last spring, I attended an annual women's mid-life retreat. During one of the evenings, we entertained each other with music, dance, art works and creative discussion. As part of the entertainment, my friend and I arranged to dance to some Latin rhythms and other music. That weekend, I shared with my friends that I would love to take up some form of body movement or dance that would comprise a connection to both the body and the spirit.

A short while later, I came across a beautiful performance on television by two dancers, called "Firedance". The dancers were Kathak dancer Joanna DeSouza and Flamenco dancer Esmeralda Enrique. Kathak is a Northern Indian classical dance that is thousands of years old. "Katha" means story and its practitioners are those who tell the stories. It is known for its intricate footwork and dramatic facial expressions.

"Kathak's special attributes are its blend of the divine androgen - the intellectual, the suggestive and the abstract. For some, the purpose is entertainment and for others, it's a way of sharing the emotional struggles of life. And it's always the celebration of life through dance. It's that communication that makes the dance special. Dance freedom comes from strength of the spirit and understanding humanity. The only boundaries it has are the limitations we place on ourselves. The beauty of the dance is that, traditionally, everything is in the moment. It has no cultural boundaries and is not necessarily inspired by music but by intricate rhythmic patterns. The rhythms are interpreted throughout the body ... through the use of percussion instruments such [as] ghungaroos (dancing bells) and blending them into the dance movement. The whole body becomes a vehicle of rhythmic expression. Expression of rhythm frees the spirit, allowing one to experience an expanded awareness. " (2)

Kathak has a connection to Flamenco through the gypsies that travelled through Europe and Asia. It is said that "Flamenco is the voice of Spain's soul: its sorrow and anguish are both reflected through the mediums of dance, song and music. Pulling from its ancestral roots in Andalusia, Flamenco is a complex crossfire of many art forms including Muslim, Gypsy, East Indian and Jewish." (3)

"Firedance" was a powerful and beautiful performance to watch. The intrinsic magic of the dance really moved me. I really felt the connection of the body and spirit expressed through the performers, of storytelling through dance.

This past January, I read The Rope in the Water - A Pilgrimage through India, by Sylvia Fraser, for my book club. This book is a wonderful spiritual journey of healing and transformation. I was very inspired by Sylvia's pilgrimage and her fearlessness in dealing with the challenges she has encountered along her path as her true spirit unfolds. She believes that "everything that happens does so for the purpose of teaching me something of value ... As Eastern mystics promise, change yourself and you change everything." (4)

As I was reviewing the book, I was inspired to look on the Internet for classes in Indian dancing. I came across a studio offering lessons and e-mailed them. The next day, I received the information that beginners' classes were starting the following week. I thought: Wow. But the most incredible synchronicity was that the person that responded to my inquiry was Joanna DeSouza, the Kathak dancer from the "Firedance" production.

I have now begun my Kathak lessons. Presently, I am not very coordinated and have some distance to go, but I feel that with time and practice, I will begin to embody the elaborate and complex steps. As part of the lessons, I am also learning about the spiritual and historical element of the dance. In a peculiar way, as I attend my dance classes, I feel that I am drinking holy water from a sacred spring. I am really enjoying this new learning experience and the challenge of achieving connection between body and spirit. Recently, I attended a student recital and found the dancers, who varied in age and dancing level, to be incredibly inspirational. They put on a beautiful performance.

I know that my old spirit is the cross-pollination of many cultures and I think that somewhere in me, there is a gypsy spirit waiting to take flight. It is the heartbeat of the drums that really connects to my heart and grounds me to the earth.

References

(1) "They Dance to Set the Spirit Free", Peggy Fletcher Stack

(2) "Gypsy Dances of India", http://www.ghungarro.com/

(3) "Flamenco: The Voice of Spain's Soul", Violetta Lapinski, Raices.html

(4) The Rope in the Water - A Pilgrimage to India, Sylvia Fraser (introduction page XVI)