This morning, I received an email that had me bawling my eyes out.
It was of a protest last week where the National Guard danced the “Macarena” thanks to a beautiful heart-based activist named Amisha Harding.
While watching the video of the protesters and the guards giggling to the “Macarena”, I found myself weeping.
Because dance is healing
Because dance is unifying
And
Because the RIGHT to dance is about the RIGHT to safety, the RIGHT to JOY, the RIGHT to EXPRESS, the RIGHT to EXIST.
Dance is also about bringing us all back into our hearts.
Because right there, for a moment, everything was ok.
And right there, for a moment, everyone stripped away the details and FELT.
Everyone joined together to just BE.
For a moment, we were just SOULS in human bodies.
But the system does not see it that way. The system is rigged. The system is rotten. And the system needs us all to spend a lot more time than we have dismantling it through strategic, consolidated efforts to help our BIPOC feel SAFE so they can dance again.
Dance alone won’t do shit.
Intention alone won’t do shit.
Being in our hearts alone won’t do shit.
We have to roll up our sleeves and get into the systemic roots and pull them out like stubborn weeds.
We have to roll up our sleeves and listen to what is needed to help everyone feel safe to just BE.
And we MUST bring our hearts along.
We must bring the dance along.
We must bring our humanity along.
Because too much head and too little heart is why we ended up here.
Because too much masculine and too little feminine is why we have lost our way.
Because too much strategy and too little feeling is how we end up frozen here.
I am here for the strategy. For the change. For the moment-to-moment hard work.
And I’m bringing along my heart. And my body. And my dance.
Because I’m in this for the long-haul.
And I know I cannot do it without a little “Macarena” as my North Star.
(Thank you Ecstatic dance for that beautiful email.)