The healing power of music

Image by HubertPhotographer from Pixabay

I’m not sure what it is but sometimes I just need music. The type of music I need is always different pending the situation. 

For example, right now I’m chilling to some music while waiting for something. Instantly, I feel so anxious. My feet start bopping. My breath returns to normal. 

Other times, I am in the car by myself and a good song comes on and I belt out my singing. Sometimes, I’m ready to not go home and just keep driving to listen to the music. 

The other night, I had a short car drive when I decided to go home and pretend I was in a dance club and I just danced to different types of music from rnb to hip hop to pop music. I was in casual gear, but I pretended I was all dressed up for a night of party.

Now you might think this is sad and lonely? But why? Because I got to dance like nobody was watching. I got in some exercise and it didn’t take me ages to get home afterwards. I literally walked to the couch. 

So why is any of the above important? Music plays deeply into my soul. The other day I was feeling a bit down and what did I do wrong? I played some sad music and felt my mood drift even deeper down. I quickly changed songs once I realised. 

But if you can dance to any type of music and feel its soul, when you dance, your soul will showcase to the whoever is watching. Dancing is quite powerful. You get to feel your soul and tell a story with each movement and those watching get to feel and learn your story. Amazing. 

I remember when I was dancing a contemporary performance when I was younger. My dance teacher was on the sidelines and I did this dance move and afterwards she said, “Melanie I have never seen you pull in your stomach so hard.” My response, “I wasn’t pulling in my stomach for dance reasons. I was pulling in my stomach because I was feeling my soul through the dance and it’s music.”

Because in dance and especially ballet we learn the steps and then we learn the techniques and then finally we add the performance to our body and facials. We add flair. We add excitement and feeling. It’s not just going through the steps, it’s putting our full energy to the softest movement to pumping out the dance move in the strongest form. Whatever style of dance, your soul pours out and that’s when you know you have mastered dance. Because above every technique, every step, your soul shines through above it all and people can’t stop watching you. 

I did a dance tour in high school to Rockhampton and this woman came up to me after, I had never seen her before and she said. “You are an amazing dancer. You seem to enjoy it. You smiled the whole time.” 

The comment resonated with me ever since because it reminds me that I love to dance. And I do smile when I dance because I truly enjoy it. Although, this is the exact reason a dancer needs to practice their dance over and over. The reason being, when you first learn it, you are memorising it. You are putting to memory every step. You want to feel the movement but getting ahead and memorising all the steps first is most important. Then ensuring your steps flow and you can add some flair and add a bit of yourself to it. Then you need to practice over and over giving it your all, as if you were performing to a crowd. Then when you do perform, enjoy it. Smile. Let your soul shine through. Share the light within your soul. Be brave. Be confident. Dance. Shine.

#dance #soul #music #dancemusic 

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