A Month of Fundays: Day 2 – Dance Like No One is Watching

Here’s the entire quote – and feel free to do each of these things as a funday activity; although, love as though you’ve never been hurt may not be a try-that-out-today-for-fun kind of thing.

Dance as though no one is watching
Love as though you've never been hurt
Sing as though no one can hear you
Live as though heaven is on earth. – Souza

Honestly, whenever I hear or read dance like no one is watching, I think of Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister in Love Actually dancing around 10 Downing in his stocking feet to the Pointer Sisters’ “Jump for My Love”. I’m not sure if this is because my cousins and I always used to dance-like-no-one-was-watching to that song whenever I slept over as a child; or because one thing I really miss about the office job is Ben’s reenacting of this dance every Christmas. Either way though – I can’t help but smile.

I look like a dying duck in a thunderstorm when I dance, so I’m often surprised at how much dancing means to me. Actually, I don’t know when I made this analogy. Maybe it’s because I’m not a good clubber. I just don’t get it. The hot and the sweaty and the meat market, ear bursting, public humping just doesn’t do it for me. Wow, I really AM old. So maybe that’s when I look like a dying duck in a thunderstorm – when I’m in a dance club with a techno beat really not enjoying the dancing. Essentially, I think dance is a wonderful expression of music and personal journey; it is joy or pain when words just aren’t enough (says the writer). As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I grew up with a healthy love for ballroom dancing. One of my happier childhood memories is watching dancing competitions with my mom in the living room with plenty of room to try out any moves I was inspired to recreate. I’m extremely klutzy – even in my adulthood – so how I didn’t break a leg, I’ll never know. Now I watch shows like Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance because they are fun, and for me – nostalgic.

I’m not saying for this month of fundays you should choreograph a professional routine and go dance it somewhere. This is more of a happy dance sort of thing. You know, your happy dance. That thing you do when something amazing happens. Jump up and down, wave your hands in the air, fall to the floor and look like you’re having a seizure, whatever it is you do, I want you to do that today. My happy dance looks like an Irish jig gone way wrong; yes, like a dying duck in a thunderstorm performing an Irish jig before finally keeling (hah!) over. It’s awesome; I did it in the kitchen while waiting for my cup of tea to brew. I was really excited about my tea break today.

I will now give you a moment to go perform your happy dance. While your dancing around like no one is watching, feel free to watch the video below. It is Hank and John Green again…how perceptive of you. Here is their Happy Dance Project from three or four years ago. I dare you to watch this and not smile.




Last weekend we had a family reunion at Lake Independence – the BBQ, swimming, chatting type of reunion. My great-uncle Marston and great-aunt Margaret came over from the east coast for the event; I haven’t seen either one since my teenage years. Old family stories always surface during these things and I found out Marston taught dance at the famed Arthur Murray School of Dance after high school (late 30s or early 40s possibly?). The late afternoon saw Marston and I doing a jitterbug in the grass, near the beach of Lake Independence. I have to say for a while there I forgot that I looked like a dying duck in a thunderstorm, I forgot it was 90 degrees out, I forgot anyone was watching me dance and I forgot my great-uncle is 84 years old. But what I won’t ever forget is the dance itself.

I’ve also mentioned my friend Mitzi on this blog before. She was a WAVE during WWII. Mitzi lost her battle with cancer last year, but her memory lives on. It lives on in an article currently in the hands of a certain unnamed magazine who has yet to decide on whether they will print it or not, but I digress – freelance writing sometimes means your words are legally not your own. To sum up: Mitzi loved to dance. She spent much of the war on the west coast in Navy hospitals rehabilitating amputee victims. She rehabilitated through dance; because you don’t need to stand on two feet or have two arms to move to the music. I can’t think about dancing without thinking about her New Year’s Eve wartime story: She spent the evening dancing at a USO Club with Gene Kelly! The light in her eyes while recanting the tale makes this another dance I will never forget; even without seeing the original.

What are you waiting for, go dance already!

Picture: One of you dancing your happy dance. Or, film yourself dancing like no one is watching. You may laugh at yourself, but again, it will make you smile every time you see it!

Song: There’s lots of big band songs going through my head right now, but my iPod was playing JET’s “Are You Gonna be My Girl” when I performed my happy dance today.

Tomorrow: Cook or Bake Something YUMMY