The dance of life has been in my thoughts lately, and that brought back the movie we watched last year called Shall We Dance with Richard Gere. For those who haven’t seen it, I’ll proceed to wreck it for you.
The story goes this way. A man sits on a train every day coming home from work, bored and empty in a life that has no meaning, and he sees a woman at the window of a dance studio. He begins to look forward to seeing her as he passes each evening. She is a dance teacher. Finally, the pull is too much and he signs up for a dance lesson. “Teach me to dance,” he says. And she does. He become totally captivated with learning to dance. Finally, he wins a ball room dance contest.
His wife, however, thinks he is having an affair, and sneaks into the dance contest to see for herself. She discovers that he now loves her all the more because he has learned how to…dance with life.
This movie blueprints the universal path of the hero: the spiritual seeker whose world has become a wasteland. He knows that something wonderful and frightening is beyond his horizon. One day there is an encounter with an unknown figure who beckons to his soul. The movies are full of these gate keepers who call us to adventure. These beings come to us from the other side to teach us the secrets of life. They can be of the opposite sex, an old man, an alien, nature, a trip, even a movie…anything the mind can imagine. But their function is always the same; they teach us to dance.
Dance lessons are basically the same. First you become aware of your awkward postures and you feel like you have cinder blocks for feet. You overcome this discomfort, and surrender to the instruction, which shows you how to let go of your attachments and follow life’s lead. As you begin to follow the music, your joy increases. This is great!
Finally, the teacher steps away and you are on your own. She can teach you no more. You embrace life and waltz away. Whenever life moves, you move in harmony with her. You lead life and life leads you. There is no more separation. There is just the music.
When you return to your old world, it is not old anymore. Everything is fresh and full of possibility. The music is still going, and others begin wanting to learn how to dance. Wherever you go life is dancing, so you are never without a partner. You can go to Wal-Mart, to work, anywhere, and the music is there and you move with it. Life is not just in the dance studio, it is everywhere, you discover.
And everywhere there are people who want to become conscious of the music, to let go of their inhibitions, to step out of their frozen postures, and be free.
We are all Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, but we just don’t believe it.
Posted under General Observations
This post was written by ed on October 29, 2006
