Brother, Come Dance With Me!
10 Examples of Men Dancing Together Which Are Joyful, Powerful and May Be Revolutionary
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I’ve been noticing in these cold and dark months especially how little physical contact I am having with other men.
Sure, I get to the dojo and train with my male buds (my “brothers”) here and there, and it’s satisfying to wrestle and play fight. But there is something about dancing — moving with more spontaneity, ecstatic joy and celebration — that I miss.
As if on cue, I got these pics in the mail.
That’s me on the left with the scruffy beard and brown blazer, embracing the joy of dancing with two men, one a dear friend and the other a stranger — until we danced together.
They are from a wedding I attended with my wife and daughter, 6 months ago.
I look at these pictures and think about the many times dancing with other men has been deeply healing and life changing for me (more on those experiences in point #9) and I wonder why have I not done it more often, lately.
“In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions: “When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop being comforted by the sweet territory of silence?”
~ Gabrielle Roth, founder of the 5 Rhythms dance.
I’m captivated by the first question,
“When did you stop dancing?”
Lets explore this together, especially in the context of men dancing with their fellow brothers.
Why did we ever stop?
Or worse, why did some of us never even dare to try?
Why NOT dance with other men…
It seems to be that — even though it’s 2019 — any kind of physical contact shared between men that is not violent (such as hugging, cuddling, comforting and…