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Dancing with the Rhythmby John Circling Heart
printed in The Flowering Tree, Winter 1997
Our legends tell us that in the dim, dark, ages of the past, the Old Ones taught Mankind the five points of the star: Music, Dance, Natural Agriculture, Natural Medicine, and Astrology. It is through the mastery of these five arts that one gains harmony with oneself, one's sisters and brothers, Mother Earth, and finally with the cosmos.
When we play music, especially with others, and the music is harmonious, we discover the concept of rhythm, which is the relationshp of harmony with time. Rhythm ties us all together and runs through all of Creation, permeating everything in it. Music and dance move us in time with these rhythms. When we are in harmony, and in rhythm, we are healthy and happy. When we are out of step, or out of tune, we grow ill. People who know love are healthy and happy. If we would know love, then we must dance our joy together.
Music and dance not only reflect joy and happiness, they also induce them. No matter how worried, depressed, or fearul we might be, dancing together fills us with the joy and happiness that is our birthright.
Dancing is magical in other ways. This is evident in the Corn Dances, Rain Dances, and Kachina Dances of various Native American tribes, as well as the hula dances of the Polynesians. Anthropologists, recognizing that primitive dancing is usually in the nature of working magic, have labeled it with the term cycloterpsichorean. This is a big word that simply means "repetitive dancing." Such dances have persisted from the early hunting and fertility rites of primitive societies, to the more sophisticated styles of modern times.
The relationship of singing and dancing to religious worship has been quite persistent throughout all of history, and with all true cultures. Only recently have people stopped singing and dancing before the altar of the Gods. We are reminded of the old saying, "Men are that they might have joy." The surest path to joy, love, and happiness is through song and dance...
Keep those feet a-moving, clap your hands, and take part in the dance of Life!
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