Last week I was told a secret.
‘At work we have started a club. For one hour a week we find a room with no windows. We turn out the lights, play music and dance.’
Word spread across the organisation and now there are 50-60 people who meet to dance.
It is a secret because if senior management or people outside the organisation heard about the ‘club’ they wouldn’t know how to explain it. There is a concern about how it looks, and what people might say.
This is not the only ‘secret dance’ I have been told about…
‘I dance in the car- why is it normal to sit at the wheel, blank face or grumpy… but weird and crazy if I am dancing?’
‘We dance down the corridor- there are no windows, it has just become the space to do it’
‘I go out to dance at lunch… but no-one knows’
Why so secret about dancing?
‘A terror that has lurked within in me for all time… I hate dancing more than I can possibly explain’
Stephen Fry
On one hand dancing is scorned and scoffed at for its awkwardness, silliness and general daftness. Our culture has created a ‘can do’ ‘can’t do’ attitude to dance. On the other hand it is celebrated and used deliberately to sell, motivate, bring people together and ensure people feel good.
Dance is everywhere- advertising, charities, events there are millions of videos uploaded every day.
Dancing at Work
It seems that for an activity to happen in the work place it has to be given a name, and have a defined outcome. If Yoga was bought in, this wouldn’t present as much of an issue, or Zumba or if a running group started. Dancing is not so easily explained and dancing with no style, steps or teacher, even more so.
Why do adults want to move, move, move? And if it matters what people on the other side of the door think, how can we explain?
Being a Body:
As adults we spend most of our time in our heads, using our hands, and the rest of our body just carts us about. Too much time in our heads; feeling the pressure, managing the workload, making decisions, having meetings, responding to emails, writing reports- and our body will let us know it feels neglected.
As members of our highly rational, highly technical society we often fail to value the decisions our bodies make for us. Bodily impulses are hidden inside us like shameful relics of our humanity because those humans who have the capacity for high level verbal thinking processes are more highly valued.
Betty Block & Judith Lee Kissell
Dancing is an embodied way of being in the world. On his latest blog Mark Walsh from Integration Training pulls together the evidence base: The Science of Embodiment
Being Social:
There is something quite unique about developing relationships, and being with others in a non verbal way. Dancing is being social on another level- listening, responding, leading, performing, changing, suggesting, and playing.
Anthropologists tend to agree that the evolutionary function of dance was to enable- or encourage- humans to live in groups larger than small bands of closely related individuals… Of course dance cannot work to bind people unless (1) It is intrinsically pleasurable, and (2) it provides a pleasure not achievable by smaller groups… feeling part of something larger than ourselves
Barbara Ehrenreich
Being Free:
Dancing is the ultimate letting go. As adults, particularly in the workplace , how much time do you get to spend away from right or wrong? Rules and regulations? Expectations?
A little secret of mine; my measure of success at the end of one of my training workshops is for us to dance together. I have always succeeded. It is mentioned on the feedback forms particularly for how it relaxes and takes away any stress. We have built up a relationship within the group, there is trust and this enables people to do something they wouldn’t normally.
Make your body happy by giving it a sense of abundance. Give your mind a sense of ease and exuberance. Seek pleasure in action and in rest. Celebrate the joys of robust physicality. Let your body express its enthusiasm.
Frank Forencich
Feeding the Brain:
Do you pace about when on the phone? Stretch and change positions in your chair, in a meeting? Tap your foot or jiggle your knee whilst you talk or listen to others? We have to move in order to think.
We do not feel our body so much when it is at rest; but we get a clearer perception of it when it moves… Not only is it true that the nervous system stimulates the body to move in specific ways as a result of specific sensations; it is also the case that all movements flood the nervous system with sensations regarding the structures and functions of the body.’
Dean Juhan
So What?
And so what impact will this have when you get back to your desk?
We spend most of our time at work, and employers who create opportunities for us to be the physical creatures that we are, reap the rewards.
Besides the usual motivation, energy, improved concentration, productivity and high morale. Dancing builds relationships, develops trust, builds confidence and flexes the creative muscle. Movement, play, dance brings laughter to the workplace.
There is something quite fun about secret dancing, however the fear is that it can get dismissed and stopped because of others assumptions and high pressure cultures, that keep adults in their heads. I am not saying that this is for everyone. It is unfortunate that those who ‘won’t’ or ‘don’t’ shout the loudest and get listened to. This is the challenge.
Any other stories of secret dancing I would love to hear, and if you would like me to create a little permission at work for you to dance, move and play please get in touch.
