5 Reasons Women Should Dance Daily

Dancing is music in action, and even if you move like Elaine on “Seinfeld,” you should do it once a day.

My son used to dance when “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” came on the television. As soon as he heard their opening song, he was in front of the television going to town. I would dance with him until we both yelled, “Heroes in a half-shell. TURTLE POWER!.”

I’ve written about dancing before, because I think it is the personification of absolute joy. And more importantly,  I think it can create joy when we don’t feel it at all. And I noticed I don’t dance as much as I used to.

5 Reasons Dames Should Dance

1.  We are the women of the seventies and eighties, the era of some of the worst dances ever created.

  • If we can disco and do the Watusi and the Freak, then we can do anything and look good doing it.

2.  We need to rediscover our joy.

  • Sometimes twenty-five years of kids and/or jobs and/or spouses knocks the joy right out of us. We’ve given our joy to other people and forgot to ask them to return it. Joy isn’t going to come from thoughtful affirmations, joy must be reawakened in the body first. Exercise is not always joyful, even if its Zumba, because we’re breathing hard and holding onto breasts that are desperately reaching for the ground. Sports create competition, which provides joy only if you win. That leaves either having sex or dancing. You make the choice. I’m guess that 80% of us are going to be dancing.

3.  Dancing makes embarassing moments manageable.

  • You’re having one of those days where you’ve attended a meeting and noticed people staring at your eyes. You feel beautiful and remind yourself to buy more of that eye pencil you just purchased from Lancome. You get back to your home base and go into the bathroom. You have your glasses on, and notice a huge blob of mascara at the top of your eyelid that you didn’t notice earlier because you didn’t have your glasses on. Now, dance. Dance like the wind and let your mascara blob stay right where it is, because it doesn’t matter anymore.

4. Dancing keeps annoying people from bugging you.

  • I have this UPS guy that comes into our office and proceeds to sweat profusely on my carpet while talking about the most vapid topics ever. The other day, I had my Pandora 70’s and 80’s station blaring and answered the door dancing. I kept dancing as I signed his little signature pad. He left immediately.

5. We deserve to dance.

  • We have spent 25-35 years impacting the world, whether we worked at home or in the workforce. We have been teachers, nurses, mothers, friends, CEO’s, actors, politicians, cashiers, waitresses, radio DJ’s and presidents of countries. This world is a better place for having us in it. So, what the hell? We deserve a little celebration.

No Rules Dancing

As women we spend too much time asking for the “rules,” to be sure we’re doing things correctly. This does not apply to dancing.

Dance without worrying about what is shaking or is too big or is too small. Dance because you can. Take all of the hats you have worn in your life and toss them into the air, spin around, and rock it out.

Flowers dance, birds dance, kids dance, sunlight dances, moonlight dances, leaves on trees dance, and eyes dance.

It’s your turn, Dames. Dance. Sparkle. Shine. And know that you deserve it all.