Dance like there’s nobody watching, and while you’re at it, sing as if nobody is listening
AT THE CHRISTMAS party, were you the one giving it socks to Gaga or the one shuffling your feet on the edge of the crowd, hoping nobody noticed your two left ones? Do you let your fear of being off-key stop you from joining in when a sing-song starts? Perhaps in 2012 it’s time to stop caring what everybody else thinks (newsflash: everybody else is too concerned about themselves to pick up on your insecurities) and start moving your body and your vocal chords to the music. Time to stop watching Strictly and Glee and get a bit of the action for yourself.
Need motivation? Well dancing releases feelgood endorphins in the body so it can make you happier. Those who are averse to conventional exercising will appreciate the fact that dancing is a more covert form of keeping fit. Increased fitness via dancing is more of a welcome bonus rather than the main factor – which is pretty much enjoying yourself and waving goodbye to your inhibitions.
Whether you choose zumba or ballet, participation in dance is going to inject 2012 with increased vibrancy. Joining a choir or a musical group is likely to have similar benefits. The Association of Irish Choirs encourages people to get involved in singing because of its positive benefits to physical and mental health. They are not the only ones: “He who sings frightens away his ills,” said Cervantes, while dancing has an equally good rep: Nietzsche once said “we should consider everyday lost in which we don’t dance”.
THE EXPERT
David Bolger, founder of Dublin-based dance company Coiscéim, says “most people can dance and every dance is important”.
“We run extensive programmes encouraging people to take part and make their own dances. By teaching people basic choreography skills we allow people to be at the very core of their dance.”
Recently Coiscéim ran a project with Dublin City Council called La Vie en Rose – Dancing to Edith Piaf which was a weekly class for the over-50s. One participant, Beatrice from Clarendon Street in Dublin, described it as an “unexpected” experience at this stage of her life. “Since my 20s I have never had the opportunity of being involved . . . so dancing remained asleep deep in my heart although it was alive. I am very grateful for this opportunity which has made me feel very happy.”
For those reluctant to take their first steps, Bolger quotes Sam Beckett: “Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order.”
“I find that once people stop telling themselves they can’t dance they discover that they can. The same can be said for singing, even if it’s in the shower. Opening up to the world of song and dance is one of the greatest gifts you could give yourself in 2012. Let yourself go,” he advises.
“If you think about a choir, a group of people all singing and breathing in the same way at the same time, there is something really unifying about that, it’s a bonding experience,” says singing teacher Sue Rynhart, who teaches at New Park Music Centre in Dublin.
She says singing has a variety of benefits from “emotional purging” to “connecting with others” and believes the old-fashioned Irish sing-song could do with a resurgence. “In the past it was much more common to get together, standing around the piano singing, or getting together in friend’s houses with your party piece. I think we should go back to that.
“When I was a kid we’d all sing our heads off during car journeys. It’s just a great way to feel better about everything.”
Rynhart believes singing is for everyone, even those who were told at school that they didn’t have a note in their head.
“I really think every single person is a singer. It’s just a natural human thing to open our mouths and make noise. How it sounds is far less important than how it feels.” RI
zumba.ie
Learn all about the Latin-infused dance craze
coisceim.com
Book an evening class with one of the country’s most respected dance companies
aoic.ie
Get to know the choirs in your area
newparkmusic.ie
Find information about classical or jazz-singing classes and a new musical theatre course starting in February
