We don’t dance enough. I would have to say as a whole, the student population at this university is not dancing as often as it could be. Everywhere there are opportunities to dance. In the showers, in the dorms, on the walk to class, in the dining commons, on the buses, in the car, the list is endless. I was walking up Orchard Hill the other day and there was just some random guy with his eyes closed dancing up the hill like nothing matters. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen.
Dancing is so ridiculous. It’s not about how good you are, or how many people you can grind up against, it’s about letting go of all your inhibitions and going nuts. People get so caught up in how stupid they look and what everyone is thinking about them that they can’t dance. When I see people dancing it just makes me happy. No matter what, whether they’re really talented or absolutely terrible, it’s not important.
Sometimes you can’t help it. You just have these spontaneous bursts of dance built up in you and you have to do something about it. Last semester my roommates and I would get dressed up in spandex and go running around campus armed with a boom box blasting ’80s music. We danced in the Franklin D.C., at the pyramid in Southwest, on the bus, in the Fine Arts Center, at Mission Improvable. Dancing is just something we do.
Things can get so mundane at college. Every weekend is just another party where people are drinking and doing their drug of choice. I need variety. I can’t be stifled by small dorm rooms, and games involving cups and balls that get in the way of letting loose. I spend the week studying for exams, writing papers, doing OWLS – you know what I’m talking about. When I get time away from the work I can’t waste it away being wasted, I need to be dancing.
Just one hour of dancing, doing whatever you want to whatever music you want to do it to equals complete freedom from everything. There are no restrictions on what you can do; no papers due on why you’re dancing; no midterms or finals or cops or bills or authoritative figures telling you about all the responsibilities you have. You’re in college, you’re supposed to work hard, get good grades, and figure out what you’re going to do for the rest of your life. Dancing means that none of that matters until after the dancing stops. For just a little bit every day you can reach euphoria, a higher state of mind without learning meditation.
Some days just suck. You have papers due and midterms to take and bills to pay and it’s raining and you have to walk up the hill to your dorm and you are just miserable. You barely slept last night and you had a 9 a.m. class today; your shower was cold and you officially have nothing to wear because it’s time to do laundry again. Your significant other just dumped you and you know what? It’s time to dance.
I think everyone should just get over their hang-ups and their insecurities and just dance. All your issues will be waiting for you when you’re done. You can go back to worrying about grades and friends and what people think about you after you’re done. There’s nothing better than a natural high. Sure drugs can give you a temporary high and that’s great, but a natural one takes over your whole body and you can reach it without any outside sources.
Sometimes you just have to dance up the hill. You have to close your eyes and pretend all there is out there is just you and that hill, nothing else. There are so many things we have to do as kids in college, so many responsibilities, and so many decisions we have to make. It can get so stressful and frustrating. We’re not machines and we don’t have off buttons. Consciousness is something we have to deal with.
I don’t know, maybe I’m forcing my weird philosophies down unwilling throats. Maybe my love of dance can’t be shared by everyone and I should just quit now. But I think if more people gave dancing a shot, people would be so much happier and more relaxed. This whole college deal is rough enough, everyone needs to let go of all that pent up frustration somehow. I believe in the power of dance, you should try it out.
Melissa Garber is a Collegian columnist.
