#2 dancing

Is it a coincidence that while 3 of my children are hitting puberty (or are in it already) their mother is showing syptoms of being in midlife?

I have had to admit to myself that the evidence seems now indisputable since yesterday i took my first dancehall lesson! And, to top it off, it is, i'm almost ashamed to say, at the dance center where my ten year old has hiphop lessons:-).

Ok, so let me first explain a little about dancehall. It is a music genre that has it's origin in Jamiaca and with reggae music. People of my age will probably remember dancing to Shabba Ranks and Chaka Demus and Pliers in the nineties. However the music has evolved. Where dancehall culture first was an expression of challenging social inequality, now the lyrics often consists of talk about women, guns, drugs and the hardships of Kingston. So now you can probably imagine the dance that goes with this. If you can't, click here! It´s all about attitude.

I can hear you thinking; Dancehall??!! why not modern or jazz ballet which would be more appropriate for a 38 year old, sensible (?), yoga-practicing, vintage/fashion-loving woman. This is, i think, where the midlife question comes to mind. But actually, really trying to get grasp of what has gotten in to me, i can honestly say that it is just another expression of 'me'. Another 'part' of me. Maybe a little unusual, a part of me that i don't show very often, except in the safe premises of my home, but nonetheless it is who i am and what i love to do.

I love to dance. Very often, after dinner, and sort of in the midst of cleaning the table and putting everything in the dishwasher, my kids and i close the curtains (or not), and dance like crazy to just about any music genre there is. From hardcore hiphop beats, to mellow trap music (look it up!), from Michael Jackson disco to electronic house! This is something i have done since the kids were young and i really miss it if weeks happen to go by without this ritual.

As a matter of fact it is something i did as a kid with my brother and parents. It was as natural as reading a book... Come to think of it, it was more natural than reading a book:-). 

Whenever my brother comes over to visit, we still dance all together. It is just another way of expressing how we feel about each other. Being able to shamelessly let go of all fears, of all our inhibitions and doing the thing we love to do, with the ones we love. 

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