Shake Your Booty- It's Self Care

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Shake Your Booty- It’s Self Care

Dancing is making music with the body.

I like to dance.  I started again in 2019 at age 66.

When I finished my chemo and radiation for breast cancer, in March of 2019, I had already joined Gilda’s Clubhouse.  Gilda’s Clubhouse, started by the late, great comedian, Gilda Radner, offers free classes to cancer patients and their families.

In their on-line calendar, I saw a class called BeMoved. Dancing for everyone, all ages, all abilities.  Sounded amazing. Out of the blue, I wanted to dance again. I wanted to move my body and raise my arms to the sky.  BeMoved moved me.

Dance is addictive.  I wanted to do it all.  So, after my initiation with BeMoved, which I do weekly, I tried Ballet Fit, Isadora Duncan, jazz and modern dance classes.  I was a kid in a candy store, looking at all the fabulous dance schools in downtown Chicago and what was offered for the adult dancer.

I worked up my nerve and went to dance classes at the Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance, Ruth Page School of Ballet and the American Rhythm Center.

The first time I went to the Joffrey Ballet for a class, I was so nervous the entire day.  I couldn’t help it. What if I couldn’t keep up? What if I was the oldest person in the class? What if I couldn’t get through the hour?

I hadn’t taken a dance class in 40 years and I wasn’t sure I could do it.

I did it.  A bit awkwardly, a bit more slowly, but with a smile on my face.  It made me happy.

I love to dance, but I usually danced alone, in my home, with my dogs.

Now I can dance with a group of like-minded rhythm conscious women and men who want to feel the beat.

My latest passion is tap dancing. Fred Astaire, the Golddiggers of 1933.  Jimmy Cagney, Gene Kelly, Ann Miller and Eleanor Powell. Paradise. When I was 12 I took tap.  In Janet Garth’s basement, on the south side of Chicago, with my good friend Moe, we two very tall 6th graders, took tap.

We were in a recital, and we danced to “I was strolling the park one day, in the merry, merry month of May.”  Ever heard that tune? It’s a bit obscure for this century.

We wore pink satin one shoulder leotards with a purple sequin strap. Shiny black tap shoes with black grosgrain ribbons.

Did I mention we were big girls?

I wore that costume (it fit perfectly) until I was 65 and had to give it away when I moved.

Dancing has saved me.  It’s opened up my head to new possibilities.  It makes me feel connected to the earth, to my feet, to my body.

Dancing is making music with my body.

It is also a form of making love.

Thank you to my fabulous dance teachers!  Heidi, Jennifer E., Tristan, Mary Jo, Jennifer S., Sherry, Joannie, Brenda- as the French say- tous!