Dancing For Freedom: Expressing Oneself Through Dance - Essay Sample

Introduction

The art of dance is an age-old technique that is used by people to express themselves and to entertain themselves and those around them. With dancing, there comes an opportunity for many people to show off their prowess and gain recognition, especially when the dancing is competitive. In my case, I choose to dance because dancing brings out freedom in me that I cannot attain while doing another activity. With all the choices of dance, I have taught myself a number, including ballet, tap dancing, and some contemporary dances. My favorite type of dancing, however, is Salsa. Salsa is a music and dance genre that originated from the Afro-Caribbean and Latin American music, where the people who dance it have dialogues with their bodies.

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Thesis

The purpose of this essay is to show how dance, especially Salsa, is relevant in expressing one's feelings and thoughts to other people and how it ultimately impacts the dancers beyond the confines of the dance.

To begin with, I must admit that learning salsa is not as easy as it looks. Salsa involves an array of structured moves that one is supposed to follow at any given time. The essential movement (mambo) consists of eight steps, which must get done in a certain rhythm, which is mostly guided by the beats of the music in play as one dance. After mastering the first move, the rest of the steps come much more quickly. The trick is to pay attention to the beats while letting the music flow. There are solo dances and couple dances in Salsa, both modes of dancing salsa form a basis of self-expression for the dancers. The expressions can get seen from the facial expression, the gestures, and other body movements which come out strongly when the dancing begins (Borland et al., 60).

In a study by Guidetti et al. (2015), ten pairs of salsa dancers got assessed when they had structured salsa dances in a lesson and when they had unstructured salsa dances in a club to examine their psychological responses to salsa dance. The results showed that the Typical Salsa lesson elicited a lower % heart rate reserve compared to the salsa dance in a club. Taking the differences of the salsa dance styles into consideration, it got found that dancing provided psychological stimuli that provided health and fitness benefits for the participants (Guidetti, 10). Dancing allows individuals to communicate with each other through historically specific and socially constituted attitudes towards their bodies (Whitmore, 137). Guidetti et al. (11) affirm that 'salsa dance would be important for leading people to greater enjoyment, promote a positive memory, and...preserve increased motivation for future dance behavior.'

Whitmore (2014) provides an interesting aspect of viewing Salsa as a form of expression. Salsa is described as an expressive performance for gender and sexuality (Whitmore, 137). The dance moves used in salsa dances are different for the males and the females. The male takes the lead and continually gives the lady cues to shuffle between different steps. When dancing Salsa, ladies are encouraged to embrace their sexuality and express it in the moves. For instance, there are moves in Salsa where the ladies are supposed to make 'shines' while showing off, and throughout the dance, the ladies get required to sway their hips to the rhythm of the music to make the dance appealing. Dance instantly communicates significant perceptions of society without necessarily using verbal means of communication between two people.

Salsa facilitates familiarity and sensuality between people (Whitmore, 137). Strangers who do not speak the same language can meet and dance Salsa and learn so much about each other through one dance. As Guidetti et al. (1) put it, 'Salsa dance styles provide physiological stimuli adequate to...produce pleasurable experiences...' The language barriers that salsa dancing breaks are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to promoting relations between the two people who dance together. The moment you begin dancing, the focus shifts from the world to the person standing in front of you at that particular moment. The couples dancing together are encouraged to maintain eye contact and pay close attention to the body movements of each other. For these reasons, Salsa boosts one's self-esteem and self-confidence.

As a lady, I am likely to come across different kinds of leads; some are gentle with me, some too soft that I cannot feel their cues, while others are a bit too impulsive. Those who fall in the middle are the best in making Salsa an expressive dance. During the dance, there may be an exchange of feelings between the couples. Considering the salsa moves, there may exist strong bloom feelings of sensuality. The emotions that develop during the dance make the dance more interesting to watch since the coordination between the couples is enhanced (Borland et al., 59). People can break the limits that they may have set for themselves in life and experience some kind of bliss that only dance brings forth.

Dance is an art. One crucial element of art is that of creativity. Salsa provides ample room for creativity. As indicated earlier, Salsa gets guided by eight primary steps. The styles that can be created in the confines of the eight moves are limitless. The dancers can use their hands, their facial expressions, and they can incorporate breaks in their steps to give their salsa dances innovative and exciting approaches. Unleashing one's inner self is something that clearly expresses what one feels within, which makes dance therapeutic. The dancers, dancing alone or as couples, can use their moves to show the emotions they have within them (Borland et al., 68). The expression of their feelings, emotions, and thoughts in the creative way that Salsa provides guides the dancers through a healing process and helps them get rid of the negative energies and embrace the beauty of dance (Domene et al., 190).

Domene et al. (191) insist that 'health and arts sectors continue to promote dance as a potentially practical and suitable way of enhancing health in adults...' Salsa adds on to those benefits by being a medium of communication between different people, especially those who are dancing. Salsa communicates emotions, feelings, sexuality, gender, and sensuality without using verbal means. Despite the need to maintain high levels of attention and discipline during the dance, Salsa provides a platform for creativity for the salsa dancers and can also be therapeutic for the dancers. Through practice, a salsa dancer learns how to listen and recognize the links in the bodies of their fellow dancers. Also, the salsa dancer is able to adequately express him/herself through the dance moves and other body movements. Dancing is an enjoyable way to break the limitations that people often place upon themselves because it provides the best environment to develop self-confidence and freely unleash one's inner self.

Works Cited

Borland, Katherine, et al. "From Hip-Hop and Hustle to Mambo and Salsa-New Jersey's Eclectic Salsa Dance Revival." Salsa World: A Global Dance in Local Contexts (2014): 46-63. https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/pandpr/index.php/pandpr/article/view/29338/21350

Domene, Pablo A., et al. "Salsa dance and Zumba fitness: Acute responses during community-based classes." Journal of sport and health science, 5.2 (2016): 190-196. https://caccl-lrccd.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=crossref10.1249/01.mss.0000495474.71910.2f&context=PC&vid=01CACCL_LRCCD:flc&lang=en&search_scope=flc_everything&adaptor=Primo%20Central&tab=everything&query=any,contains,salsa%20dance

Guidetti, Laura, et al. "Psychophysiological responses to salsa dance." PloS one 10.4 (2015). https://caccl-lrccd.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=proquest1673074059&context=PC&vid=01CACCL_LRCCD:flc&lang=en&search_scope=flc_everything&adaptor=Primo%20Central&tab=everything&query=any,contains,salsa%20dance

Whitmore, Aleysa. "Bodies in dialogue: performing gender and sexuality in salsa dance." Women and Language: Essays on Gendered Communication across Media (2014): 137-150. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Mt87IdMmP6oC&oi=fnd&pg=PA137&dq=salsa+dance&ots=CmYdYs9B7K&sig=ZopqwyfN32tSM-E5IOyRDKiv6EQ