Monday, July 06, 2009

I grow old, I grow old

Today I randomly started reading the blog . . . in a bottle. Genie is a friend of a friend and she hosts a participatory blogging project called Living Out Loud. While looking back over some of the past round ups I found this video post by Megan of An Acorn Dreaming, put together for the "Don't Tell Me. Show Me." project.

Click here to see the entry titled An Old Dancer.

Megan's observation that she started Irish Dancing "old" (24) and has only been getting older struck a cord with me. I started belly dance at 27. That's not old in the scheme of things, really, but by 27 I was starting to get a glimpse of what getting older holds in store for my body, especially when it comes to my knees. Some days I think, "What if I had started dancing in high school or college? Think how good I'd be now?", wishful thinking that I am sure has gone through the heads of many practitioners of many hobbies. I turn it around with, "Well, if I live until at least 60 and I keep up the dancing that means I'll have been doing it for over 30 years and that's a pretty good run." I also tell myself, "Shut up and be glad for each and every day you get to do something you love because you never know what's going to happen tomorrow, much less 30 years from now."

So perhaps I'll never be a fabulous dancer or do some of the crazy dance tricks I'd love to master. I do know that all I can aim for is approaching each day of dancing with commitment and love and passion. As Megan says: "I lay my heartbeat down on the floor every time I dance."

4 comments:

Rob Carlson said...

If you started dancing in high school, imagine the shape your knees would probably be in right now. Consider that MJ was popping painkillers from years of it.

Bonnie Reese said...

Hi Amy! I finally made it to yur blog. I love it! I started dancing when I was 48. I always tell people that I'll be a really good dancer when I'm 60. That's coming fast, so I had better get on it! But seriously, I think the beauty of tribal belly dance is that we can express ourselves and build our rich tribal communities at any age. No, I'll never attain technical levels that I might have achieved if I had started dancing as a child. I have too many physical issues to work with. But maybe that's not such a bad thing. They say that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I wasn't ready then. I am now.

You are a wonderful dancer. And you're right where you should be.

Amy said...

Bonnie -

Thank you, those are very wise words and a good perspective. I had a friend try to get me into dancing for 4 or 5 years before I started. It took seeing just the "right" dancers to really spark my interest.

Congratulations on finishing your Level 1 Teacher Training! I look forward to seeing what new directions it takes your dancing.

acorndreaming said...

Hi, Amy. I'm glad my post resonated for you. I'm always excited to find another dancer who is living proof that you are never too old to dance. I would love to learn to belly dance. Maybe we can meet up some day and trade moves.