Know what your body can do

 

After a lifetime of dancing, it was time to discover dancing in the air. And at age 33, I began my aerials journey. It started with aerial silks and I quickly fell in love with it. Dancing in the air pushed my body to extreme. With gravity literally pushing on the entirety of my body, I became extremely flexible. I could do middle splits in the air, where I could never before just as a dancer and ballerina. 

I also grew incredible strength. To be able to climb the silks, hold your body up in the silks, I had to build strength. I was soon dancing on exercise bars in the parks because I could literally lift my body up and then dance on the bars, still one of my favourite things I loved doing. 

It made me realise, I had all these limitations in my head and really I could push my body, which was no longer in its prime to really do amazing things that I had never done before. 

I also dabbled in some contoration, which was one of my favourite tricks, where I touched my foot to my head in the coolest aerial silk trick. 

I don’t do aerials any more but I am grateful to have had the experience to really just enjoy pushing my body to further heights. 

It made me realise that just because I am 40, I can still dance and I can be even more flexible as I proved it during aerials. If I can dance in the air artistically, imagine what I can do on the ground. Yes, I did stop everything for quite a few years but it’s still there. My foundations to dance is still there. I feel like now is the time for my dancing to really come alive. 

Again, if you have read previous posts I still have to get back into dancing as if I am a half-beginner. A knowledgeable beginner and one with muscle memory. I still love watching people dancing and it inspires me to keep going. To not just start but be amazing. 

I also have major judgements creep in my head, like I’m getting older. How old is too old? Etc etc etc. But I push through it because at the end of the day, I love to dance. 

You know when someone loves to dance that they choreograph their own dance in their mind as they go for a walk or they can’t help but dance at work or on public transport or while sitting at the traffic lights blaring music from the radio in the car. It’s these tiny moments that add to your life, where life exceeds itself and shows you how fun life really is, when dancing is involved. 

Of course, the magic happens when you actually dance and the freeing feeling arises where it just feels amazing to dance! Never stop dancing, even when you are 80. Don’t stop. Find ways to dance. 

#dancemotivation #dancebody #dancing #meltoye 

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