This Little Piggy...

I love dancing. I feel whole and free when I dance. I get lost in the music and everything else just melts away. My true dance-style passion is tap. I’ve taken tap classes since I was four, performed in national-level competitions, choreographed numbers for musical theater shows and substitute taught some classes myself. I’ve also taken musical theater, jazz, hip-hop, burlesque and pole dance classes, and performed in most of those styles.

I was taking a mindfulness class and we did this exercise where we were instructed to stand and feel all the places our feet made contact with the ground. We closed our eyes and shifted slowly and gently, feeling how much weight our feet supported. It hit me just how much my feet do for me. I had taken them for granted when they help me do one of the things I love the most.

I’ve always appreciated watching other people dance. I love the dancing shows on TV and every time I see a musical theater production, I get very overwhelmed during a big group number. I actually get teary sometimes when everyone is in sync and the music swells. My eyes get wide and I sit on the edge of my seat in awe, not wanting to miss a second.

But the exercise brought me back into MY body, and inspired a sense of gratitude for what MY body can do, what it has achieved. I had never acknowledged my feet in that way, never gave them thanks for taking me on this journey. Being kind to myself and my body, and something thought of as so small and insignificant brought me to tears. All the times I’ve beaten myself up for not getting the timing or a step right seemed so cruel. Giving thanks made me feel so much better.

I am actively trying to be nicer to myself and appreciate the small things. There are many things I can’t do (or have to work very hard at), but what I CAN do? I can dance!