Dance to the Music

Haven’t you ever just started to sway when you give control of your body over to the music you hear? Don’t you always find your foot tapping, just a little bit, to the beat of a song you find vaguely interesting? I do, and I can’t bring myself to control it. This lack of control however, can become somewhat of an issue when driving, or even when attempting to accomplish the simplest of daily tasks. I will not say that I have the greatest dance skills the world has ever seen, but get me in a room where dancing needs to happen, and it will most certainly come to pass.

As someone counsels church camps, I often find myself as a sort of song leader and dance partner. Almost every single camp song I have ever heard of has some sort of motion attached to it, whether it is hand claps or a full blown dance routine. These sorts of activities are a perfect way to get the campers on their feet and engaged in the world around them. At the end of every camp week for every age group, there is a dance. We all know that pre teen people are not very inclined to be the first to join in a dance, so it is up to the counselors to make dancing to the music look like the most fun we have had in our entire lives. We dance like fools to show the campers that it is okay to dance to music, and it’s even okay to dance when there is no music at all.

In seriousness, music in my life is inseparably linked to movement, much to the dismay of Dean Hoffman. When I play viola, I cannot help but move with the music. I bounce, sway and rock with the phrases of the piece I play. Each passing measure seems to bring along an automatic movement with it. When I force myself into stillness, I can hear the passion leave the music. Though my so-called “violent movement” has decreased, I occasionally find myself lost to the motion that takes over my body, regardless of the negative effect it has on my performance as a musician. Right now however, the music I play still relies on those subtle and not so subtle, bounces and sways.