Savvy Raj

Live Life Lovingly!


4 Comments

Reflections in Rennes

Life reflects itself through the things you do, the people you meet as well as in your passions and perseverances, in so many intriguing yet enthralling ways.

One such beautiful reflection I am experiencing is right here happening in France.
A sense of deja vu, a throwback to a decade ago, fond memories of teaching dances to people in the different places, all thanks to the magic of movements.

I am visiting Rennes France currently and last week I went to met my colleague from the world of dance, Celine Maheo who resides here.

Celine is a practicing clinical psychologist and an Argentine tango dancer.

What’s beautiful is that she is a dedicated professional who uses the dance therapy for helping Parkinson’s patients with their movements through Tango dance sessions.

My interest was piqued, as earlier I had been conducting similar dance sessions for Seniors, namely the Dance for Wellness workshops back in India.

So over a beautiful meet and greet sipping cups of hot herbal tea at the Les Grands Gamin at the heart of Rennes, ensued a free flowing conversation where we exchanged notes on each others life. Our passion for dancing was the visible to see as we hardly knew how moments passed by.

And when Celine invited me to her next Tango Therapy Workshop, it was an offer I could not refuse. I was actually keen to understand whether and how the cultural differences change the way of conducting and experiencing workshops here.

Dancing can improve the mobility and balance in senior adults.
Adapting the dance to suit the requirements of the group, like simplifying the steps, the placement of the feet, improves their coordination, mobility and balance.

The dance session was deeply engrossing & truly inspiring to witness and participate as well. The music played that day stayed with me well after the session.

So the next step turned out to be me conducting a Chacha session for them. The challenges of language barriers were surrmounted easily as Celine offered to translate my teaching from English to French.

Everything fell in place beautifully and voila time flew again.We danced a bit of Chacha that day and also some more in the next few sessions as well. I was told later by the learners how much they enjoyed it!

It was an amazing experience sharing the joys of movements and I thank Celine for her inclusivity in requesting me to conduct the dance sessions as well. And I deeply appreciate all her beautiful learners that I met,connected and danced with. It was a truly warm and wonderful time spent with them all.

As dancers, our every endeavour to bring smiles from the heart is a beautiful and creatively fulfilling experience.

Savvy

After the sessions we would gather together and discuss opening many facets of the learning and imbibing. It was a beautiful way of empathising and understanding each other.

Some of the beautiful souls I got to interact with in these few months…

Dance has a way of soothing your entire being and bringing forth and connecting you with the depth of who you are. That is when dance begins to feel meaningful and transforms life.

The dance connects established here in these sessions will be a beautiful memory etched in my heart, that I will take back home with me and cherish forever.

Today is 8th March 2020 and celebrated as Womens Day all over the world.

I dedicate this post to my friend and colleague Celine Maheo and all the women in the world who are making the world a better place, with every step in time.

Savvy Raj