Music and Movement

I've never known a child whose parents had to teach him/her to dance. My parents have hours of video footage of my brother and me, marching elatedly to Schubert's Marche Militaire, stamping our feet to Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman, leaping and screaming to Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italian. Even pieces that did not lend themselves well to "dancing" were able to stir up our feet and get us moving. I cannot begin to recall how many times I have been sitting in a concert, waiting room, or even browsing the shelves in a bookstore, that my toes have inadvertantly begun tapping, or my that head has been bobbing slightly to a (catchy) tune.

Music and movement have been a power couple since the beginning of humanity. Dancing is just as much a means of expressing emotion as speech. Our own bodies pulse to a natural rhythm. We mimick nature through gestures; we describe and react with our hands and faces. Dancing is how my grandparents fell in love.

Some form of expressive movement can be found in every culture throughout the world. Music is a springboard for many forms of artistic communication, and movement, inspired by a throbbing bass line or a jaunty melody, is fundamental to the human condition.