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Ivan Petkov

Dance is a celebration of life. Quite literally, the archetype of dancing is courtship in animals and humans, the end result of which is the creation of a new life. Figuratively, dancing expresses a wide range of feelings and emotions. The way a person is dancing is indicative of many of his or her personal qualities and condition at that particular moment. Let us take for example a master of dance who has a perfect technique but, for some reason, he or she is dancing without desire, passion, dedication, without enjoying each movement. A spectator will immediately feel the difference and the dance, while great, will be deprived of life and mood which it could transfer to others. Dancing is like a barometer that measures our level of vitality and expresses our inner-self.

Emergence of dance. Dance is one of the things that have not been discovered like any invention that is unique in nature. Instead, it has appeared as an upgraded form of our natural instincts, starting from the desire to find a partner in life and reproduce, and to experience natural human emotions, which our ancestors expressed through dancing. The development of the instinctive roots of dance went along with body painting, with the emergence of rhythm and music which, at the dawn of human history, were a powerful tool for making people fall into a state of trance and for changing the level of awareness in humans. Trance led to the loss of personal characteristics and to the occurrence of a common group identity. In native cultures dancing is considered as a sacred form of expression as it enables people to feel the experience in a direct way, through the vibrations which it creates. Not only does this type of dancing involve the people as individuals, separated from one another, but also allows them to experience the unity and connection with each other, with the community and with the universe. It triggers the creative process and establishes the unity between the community and the universe. It leads to a state of dynamic balance that makes you feel connected with yourself and with the universe. Dancing as a form of communication with the higher forces has remained in the world to this day, fire-dancing, dervish dancing and many more being the examples of this.

Vestiges of these practices can be found in the modern army in which the soldiers march in a monotonous and repetitive rhythm, singing marching songs. Ritual dances to unite the soldiers and build their courage were performed in armies throughout the world in all ages. The army is no place for "nonsense" but for things that work flawlessly.

Dancing was an important part of ceremonies, rituals, celebrations and entertainment, even before the birth of the first human civilizations. One of the earliest uses of dancing was connected with the performances of myths and their stories. Before the existence of written languages, dancing was one of the means of handing down these stories from one generation to another and, today, many of the traditional national dances have preserved the mythological stories on which they are built. Another early usage of dancing was to precede trance in healing rituals and many cultures, from the Brazilian rainforest to the Kalahari Desert, are still using it for this purpose even today.

The modern and popular dances, which come from Africa, still present, albeit in a tangible form, the respect for the Earth, the idea of ​​exchanging energy between man and the Earth, between the two partners. In ballroom dances like the English and Viennese waltz, quickstep, foxtrot and tango, the contact between the two partners is at the level of the navel. This area transfers the movement from the male partner to the female partner and thus the pair moves in unison. There is also a movement called "sinking", for example in the English waltz, in which the pairs move up and down in unison. Regarding club or disco dancing, the group of people, who have gathered by chance, usually forms a circle and often someone comes in and dances inside the circle.

Inner dance. You can learn about the external form of dancing at school or at a dance school, where you will get to know specific movements and various complex figures. Let me tell you more about inner dancing and that it is a form of communication with the Earth; how you can use it to keep yourself in good shape and good health, and to eliminate tension, fatigue and stress. The basis of my explanation will be the Taoist practices, as I know them fairly well but, as I noted above, this view is present in many places and in many cultures.