‘To dance is to be able to glide as if you are as light as the air and soar in grace, as you feel the wind enveloping yet beckoning you to scale new heights of harmonious effusion’.
Savvy
Category Archives: Dance
Partners
Partners
Living loving
Striving,thriving
Partners in life
Partners in a dance
Swinging swaying
Falling and rising
Blurring the lines
Reflecting the truth
Between life and art
Savvy
Just a dance every day!
An old student from years ago, and a doctor by profession sent this forward below on the benefits of dance today, saying he saw this and remembered me. I was truly touched.🙂
Yes my years spent teaching dancing have been truly rewarding and continues to enrich creatively in every moment .
I remembered writing and conducting workshops on this very subject of dance application and health enrichments many years ago and had called it’ Just a dance every day’!
Glad to share it here with great joy… And I thank my student & dear Doctor friend for remembering me after all these years.
Dancing has the ability to change the inner you for the better with external movements. MRI Scans shows that the same neurons are fired when you watch some one else dance , as it would if you are dancing yourself .
Dancing also fosters empathy, elevates mood and has the power to spread smiles….making people experience emotions which they may have never felt possible too.
In a study conducted in Italy on cardiac patients who took waltz classes not only did they develop healthier arteries,and reducing of blockages , but also reported to be in much better spirit than those who took exercise classes like cycling and treadmill..
The expressive aspect of dance releases pent up emotion and is godsend for those who find it difficult to communicate verbally.
As actions at times speaks louder than words dancers can simply bring out what they want to say in the movements.Thus dancing restores the equilibrium of the mind and body .
Dancing with a partner makes you think beyond yourself and empathise with another. Everyday if you are able to get some time to dance a bit, its a beautiful holistic way that helps in paving the way to a happy healthy, healing harmonious you.
Savvy Raj
On Freedom
Are you truly free?
Free enough to be
You as you truly are?
Being free is a birth right.
Be free of bondages that restrict.
Unleash and unshackle yourself;
You owe it most to your own self.
Let go of the unwanted burdens.
Let go of fear and favour.
Let go of notions and assumptions.
Create spaces in your thoughts
To meet the lightness of your being.
Take yourself lightly
As density can pull you down.
Know you are meant to be all
That you truly are!
Nothing can bound your soul from expression
For true freedom is respect for self and others.
Be free to find yourself.
Be free to think for yourself.
Know the world needs your uniqueness as you are…now more than ever before!
A few more thoughts:
What is your idea of freedom?
How important is freedom and being free to you as a person?
If you could trade freedom for something else, would you?
And with what?
Savvy
Trust to let go!
When you dance with another, what matters most is the trust you place in yourself and your partner to dance as one unit, moving in synchrony and feeling the harmony of your beating hearts. This is the ideal connection that makes dance come alive in the moment.
Yet as much as trust is a much-needed trait in dancing as a couple, often trust takes time to build and is subjective amongst dancers.
To trust is to let go of doubt.
To trust is to allow space for growth.
To trust is to know patience in waiting.
To trust is to allow space for faith.
To trust another is not easy
For one and all.
To some, it may be very difficult.
But trust is certainly worth trying.
To trust takes effort, not assumptions.
It takes practice in time and space.
For trust can be on many levels
Emotional, mental, or physical.
Trust is built to evolve along
For in building the relationship
The foundation needs to endure
The winds of change.
Trust what trust does.
Try to pin it down.
Watch how it turns out to be
Confusing and elusive…
Before you trust, you will
Spend time sensing,
And witnessing the energy,
The tension in the transactions
Being ready for changes,
Being prepared to brave
Through disappointments and dissatisfactions
That may arise at any moment.
And yet…
Trust is not only about building
But about the ability to let go
Of worry and insecurities,
Fear and failures.
To trust is to reach out
Without any expectations
But in utter faith and belief
That you will be supported!
A dance between a couple is a blissful feeling only when there is trust in both the self and the other, just as much as the passion, as only when there is the letting go, can there be the flow manifesting itself through the movements.
Savvy Raj
Member International Dance Council
UNESCO
On Leadership
As a dance educator and trainer…while teaching and sharing social dancing skills one of the important learnings we work on is the understanding of the art of leading and following. Both very significant for any kind of partner dancing as much as in life itself. After all, life is a dance and dance imitates life!
In the first place, what does it take to be a leader? Many things but most importantly, a follower. So simply put, there must be a follower to be a leader. There can be no leader without a follower and there certainly would be no follower without a leader.
Dancing together is a lesson in leading and following in partnership!
In such a perspective both the leader and follower in the dance have a relevant role to play, that of completing the dance successfully and like so in life as well.
A dance can teach a lot about leadership and here are a few reflections on what it is to lead…
To lead is an opportunity to honour the trust of a follower.
To lead is to light the flame of inspiration to win the vote of trust of the followers.
To lead is to have a strength of purpose that inspires confidence.
To lead is to allow yourself to make decisions for others to evolve along.
To lead is to accept the responsibility of mistakes.
To lead is to maintain a decorum of standards unflinchingly.
To lead is to believe you can!
To lead is to be led by a greater purpose.
To lead is to value the laws of nature.
To lead is to value the need for self expression while respecting the need for structure.
To lead is to better the followers and not beat them down at every opportunity.
To lead is to be able to collaborate and learn just as much as to compete.
To lead is to denote respect and not expect overt attention.
To lead is to show the way for others to follow.
To lead to work tirelessly with a sense of inner commitment without hesitation without expectation.
To lead is to muster the resilience of the spirit.
To lead is to endow the spirit of courage in others.
To lead is take into account the potential of all possibilities.
Savvy
Do share your take on leadership. I would be keen to understand how you see it impacting your life and work.
The strength of support and flow of movements while dancing together is based on the connection established and that marks the quality of leadership in question.
Savvy
#danceworkshops #dancing #danceeducation #dancelessons #lifelessons #learners #leadership #leadandfollow #danceconcepts
What makes the dancer dance?
What makes the dancer dance?
There is a invisible pull of passion
That speaks to the dancing soul
In no uncertain words
That the realm to create is within you
In the draw of movements
Is the pure fascination
Of sensing feeling and knowing
The pulsating dance of energy
As the dancer emotes through movements
Waxing in eloquence and ease
For the viewers at large
There is another story waiting to be told
Blurred in the sidelines those memories
Of passionate, perseverance and focus
Of dedicated determination and dare
Of trustful knowing…
Of the strength of belief
That every move made
And the steps taken
Is with utter faith & grounding.
Every muscle in the body flows
Through the symphony of movements. To move to the music in harmony
Tuned in the divinity of expression.
Savvy Raj
Member International Dance Council
UNESCO
To dance is to…
To Dance is to live in the moment joyfully!
Happy New Year 2019 Keep Dancing
& Enjoy Living!!
Project 101
Today marks a personal milestone in blogging as I publish my 101st post. I have completed my continuous 100 days of writing on WordPress.
On a lark after a challenge to post a few of my favourite songs for three consecutive days came my way from a fellow blogger and friend Dr Sridhar. I decided to take it up and posted my favourite songs for three days. Then I started thinking if I could manage to post for a week and continued to write . The seven days went smooth and easy and then I upped my goal a little further to see if I could write a post everyday for a month.
I had a few ground rules established in my head . First that this was no competition to complete in pressure but simply an effort to see if I would find an inspiration to write on anything that caught my fancy each day . Second would I have the perseverance to continue and be able to dedicate time towards the effort .
Thirdly I wanted to see if I could keep my readers and audiences interested if I happen to post everyday.
And most of all I wanted to test whether my creative instincts are effected in anyway by habit…
A months regular posting on WordPress got me supercharged to aspire some more. Wp would egg me on with reminders of completing a 30th day streak of posting on WordPress.
It was no surprise that once I reached 30 I wanted to try and reach the 50th day.
Seemed then that I could do it if I was smart enough to manage my writing time around the early hours of the day. And that’s what I did.
No one in my family or friends knew much about this plan, but I was pretty clear how to go about it by then and dedicated a bit of time to writing every morning no matter what.
A few learnings.
Have a goal that seems workable, it is easier to focus.
Persevere… and believe you can work towards it.
Push your goal a step ahead as you reach a level.
Manage your time better, to make it happen
Value your goal and be dedicated.
Your creative sense will begin to work for you all the more…
Believe in your self and be passionate
Trust that you will find the way!
And most of all enjoy the journey as much as the destination.😊
Although I have written on WordPress for a few years now and I would have written and posted perhaps continously as well earlier without my own realisation. This was a task that had a goal and hence it is different to me.
The last few months have been personally challenging in terms of health where I was even admitted to the hospital and I am continuing to battle a condition that might require surgery soon. So basically being unwell literally I use the relatively painfree bits of time in the day, I have in my hands for creative enrichment …be it writing or painting and more.
Blogging through I reached my 50th day of posting. And I knew I couldn’t stop it in my heart . The magic figure of 100 floated in my mind and I was sold to the idea of making it happen.
Today it is the 101st day streak of publishing a post everyday and I truly wonder how I managed it all along with my present condition.
My biggest take back has been the loving support and generous comments from my readers which kept me going .
But other than that was a learning and affirmation that if we really make up our mind , we can beat the odds and find a way to acheive our goal .
Besides that I realised how my reading others blogs and writing every day would bring up some topic to contemplate creatively for the next day. The best part was I never had to try too hard … every post I wrote and shared I enjoyed with all my heart.
Writing gives me a sense of completion.
A feeling of contentment of a job well done. And if its well received it truly makes my day… and my fellow writers this I am pretty sure you would agree as well.
Thank you my dear readers and friends for staying with me right through. It has been an absolute pleasure to share and learn along the way… on what I can gratefully now call Project 101.
Wishing an awesome year 2019 for us all !
God bless all!
Savvy
Celebrate Life… Live than just exist.
This note above has a true story that happened with me…. I have published it in my earlier article called the Magic of Movements.
This is one of those moments when writing and sharing stories from our lives bring us a deep sense of connection… with our readers and ourselves in gratitude for the learnings. And there is that sense of magic through words.
This is an old story but to me, but sharing it evokes the same poignant feeling of fond memories of the people that are attached to it
Here is the story if you would like to read.
The Magic of Movements
‘Life is a dance’….A painting by Savvy Raj
Savvy
Be this alive!
A great piece of choreography and cinematography from the movie Shall we Dance.
Watch the sensous swivels and the tantalising twirls of tango and be mesmerized by the lead pair of Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez.
I love the line she says to him…
‘Be this alive!’…
Savvy
💙💖💙
Soul of the Dancer
Sharing one of my favorites 🙂
THE DANCER An Excerpt From The Wanderer by Khalil Gibran
Once there came to the court of the Prince of Birkasha a dancer and her musicians. And she was admitted to the court. And she danced to the music of the flute, the lute, and the zither.
She danced the dance of flames and fire, and the dance of swords and spears; she danced the dance of stars and the dance of space, and then she danced the dance of flowers in the wind.
When she had finished, she approached the prince and bowed her body before him. The prince bade her to come nearer, and said unto her, “Beautiful woman, daughter of grace and delight, whence comes your art? And how is it that you command all the elements in your rhythms and your rhymes?”
And the dancer came near and bowed her body again and said, “Gracious majesty, I know not the answer to your questionings. Only this I know: The philosopher soul dwells within his head, the poets soul dwells within his heart, the singers soul dwells about his throat, but the soul of the dancer abides in all her body.
A few lines I had written on similar thoughts… on the Dance and the Dancer.
How can you separate the dancer from the dance?
For there is no one without the other
Body and soul united in spirit.
When the two meet there emerges energy
In unison of the cohesive oneness
The heart knows what the mind speaks
And mind tells what the heart wants…
Embedded is the dance in a dancer
Embalmed is the dancer in the dance.
Savvy
You lead I follow : I lead you follow… Life is a dance!
Do you love to dance?
Do you enjoy leading a dance?
What makes a dance enjoyable?
Dance is a lot like life . Here I bring forth a few simple pointers on Partner Dancing.
Important lessons in leadership are easily learned, on the dance floor…as you lead and as you follow.
They are very simple lessons and yet very powerful and contribute in making one a better dancer immediately. But more importantly it helps to know how to be a better leader in life too.
About two decades or more, Social dancing workshops and lessons in India were rarely common. We decided to do something about it and the Dance Concepts Latin &ballroom dance workshops began . We started with the basics :a Foxtrot , a Waltz , Jive , Rock n Roll and of course a Cha Cha Cha.
The idea was to teach as naturally and as simply as possible, so that the students made quick progress in learning the concepts of dancing rather than just a routine. Having had the privilege of sharing our social dancing skills with so many eager learners over the years we made a few observations … when the learners were learning the footwork side by side they would find it a breeze. But when we instructed them to join hands and dance together in an open hold some of them felt as if they were wrestling more than dancing with the lady pulling one way, while the man was pushing her another way Each had their ideas about how they should move and how it would look.
Social Dancing is a partnership, a partnership where there is a leader and a follower. Even if you don’t like to follow, to dance well together it is wise to respect the partnership rules. Learning to follow is a skill that one needs to develop and is not necessarily easy. It’s difficult as you have to do the same thing your partner is doing, except backward.
Just as important, you have to follow his lead even if it seems as if he’s going the wrong way. And thus if one learns to lead well, the partner may actually enjoy the feeling of being led than feeling yanked and shoved around.
Traditionally the man takes the lead on the dance floor. Yes, in ballroom dancing – even in these days -mostly the man leads. But roles can be and are reversed as well. After all it takes two to tango… if one leads the other follows.
Being a leader is more about sensitivity and definitely not about pushing your partner around, but to lead well, it is necessary to develop spatial awareness so you know exactly where your partner is at every moment, which foot their weight is balanced on without looking. You have to be aware of their pacing, and be mindful of the strengths, and weaknesses. And you have to take all that into consideration every time you move with a partner in your arms.
A good leader connects than controls.
Savvy
Sense what you are going to do before you do it. Just be aware of what your next step is going to be, and give your partner the signal at the right time so they can follow you gracefully. Like so in life: Having some foresight of what your life should become is like knowing what type of dance you want to do. But being a good leader requires more of you than that. It demands that you also have good ideas about the medium- and short-term tasks that are required to achieve that vision. And it means you have to communicate those ideas to your partners – those who are working closely with you to achieve your vision.
When dancing together it is very important to …
Signal your intentions with clarity. To lead well, and the way to avoid using force is to give strong, clear signals. The clearer your signals are, the easier it is to follow you. And the easier it is for your partner to follow you, the better you will look and feel together and the better they will like dancing with you.
In life: knowing what you want from your partners, colleagues etc is not enough. You have to let them know what you want them to do by communicating it to them with clarity. And most of all you have to develop the art of patience.
Lead to demonstrate your partner’s strengths.In dancing, the purpose of the leader is to lead – but the purpose of the dance itself is to enjoy the moment with your partner, each focusing on the bringing the best of each others strengths than the weaknesses…
Wise leaders hardly blame the follower when things go haphazard , which it might at times! After all exhilaration and excitement are a stones throw away from comfort zones that one might trespass at times , yet when ever the leader and the follower work in harmony … it is magnetic and mesmerizing indeed! It is then a dance beyond all expectations!
Savvy Raj
Member of International Dance Council
UNESCO
On transformations.
Awareness and Alterations
Your body is a temple, but only if you treat it as one.” ~Astrid Alauda
The thoughts we think…
The nature of our thoughts, our choices of food intake and nutrition for sustenance, our associations and our activities and our rest patterns are all interconnected in the conversion of energy to conscious awareness.
The mind and body connection is prevalent and the signs of repeating patterns of stress show significantly on our bodies in time
Alteration is a process of transformation that can be gradual, tiring and taxing to lead and follow. For example to rid the body of a chronic condition the behavioural patterns that created it in the first place are rooted in the system and hence to nudge a root one needs to work the underlying layers of emotions that associate and accumulate and elevate the conditions of its existence and growth.
The cleansing process is then definitely natural and non-invasive. A supportive and strength giving initiative would be ideal as alternatives to follow.
Alternative natural cures are best environments to work towards in treatment and eradication of root cause than just attacking the symptoms.
The part can never be well unless the whole is well.” ~Plato
The wisdom is in our observation of our own pattern of being as we are, as we behave and feel.
The thought reflections getting imprinted on the body and our ability to intervene are both significant. So to significantly alter the nature of our existence we need to be present in the now.
A few thoughts…
Thoughts come and go but the choice of what to steer it towards rests with us.
Our positive orientated thoughts are our bridge to transform ourselves for the better.
They are available to link ourselves and connect with our deepest truth.
Every interlink in positivity is a step towards personal transformation as much as the power of spreading expansive goodwill and wellness into nature.
Savvy
Dance of the Trees
Have you witnessed the trees dance?
Swaying in the winds with soaring spirits
Beckoning the sky to rain some more …
Even a seemingly barren tree
Is full of life and alive in every moment
Ready to spring with a freshness of spirit
Even the dry parched roots, shapes into a new life.
The branches may be dried but trust nature to grow some more
And fill the senses once more
With vibrant hues of leaves in all shades of green.
Being a tree is a mighty task
Sheltering and shading every passerby
Giving fruits is a labour of love
Receiving carbon and sharing oxygen
And standing rooted to the ground
In all its natural abundance
For life to spring countless times
With nesting birds and the burrowing bees
The spirit of the tree is all heart
Sharing beyond compare
And watch as the world passes it by
In the echelons of time.
Trees stand the test of time
Of guts and glory upholding untold stories
Letting go the falling leaves in every day
Letting go the fright of loneliness and the pain of loss
Cos it knows the circle of life only too well…
What goes comes around
Like a breath of fresh air and a bud that is ready to spring.
Written by
Savvy Raj
Savvy Raj 
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