1
Jul
I’m feeling alive again. Yesterday, I started dancing.
Nia Dancing from http://www.earthdaypensacola.org/demonstrations.html
I moved my body in ways that I had forgotten how to in a long time. The last time I danced was at a wedding last month; and before that, at the Ethiopian New Year celebrartion last September.
In the U.S., I find myself standing and barely moving like the Western people around me. Except for when I am talking with very close friends and fellow Africans, I don’t talk loudly anymore or with big hand gestures. This used to startle many Americans when I did that. It’s kind of restricting to live trying to fit in my surrounding.
So the dance floor is my escape. When I dance, I forget about the cultural milieu I am in; whether it is in the U.S., in France or in the Congo. Cultural differences disappear and skin colors blend into a rainbow. Dancing liberates me.
The dance class I went to last night was called NIA; the instructor told us to feel ‘joy run through our body.’ I felt like a little girl, dancing in my backyard in Kinshasa. It was wonderful!