Ballroom Newsletter, Siskiyou County & Northern California – July 15th 2024
Dear All,
To all intents and purposes, last week was the first week of classes (even though it was actually the second week in July). It is still not too late to join us this week (Bolero on Wednesday and Tango on Thursday) and still be able to easily keep up. Two fun dances, two fine days of your dancing pleasure and two more chances to expand your knowledge and experience on your road to expertise and (apropos to today’s newsletter topic) emotional gratification.
Speaking of which, time for the next segment of our Benefits of Ballroom Dance. We covered some of the Physical benefits in the first newsletter of July (week one) and we covered some of the Mental benefits in the second newsletter (last week) which brings us, in this third newsletter, to some of the Emotional (aka social) benefits of Ballroom Dance. To wit:
Our emotional lives all depend on interaction with others (otherwise there is no emotional life and loneliness would kill us all {and, indeed, may, ultimately, be the chief cause of death in our elderly population}). In fact, in the 1920’s, a social experiment was conducted in some of this nation’s orphanages to see what happens if a human being is deprived of physical human contact at a young age (orphaned babies being used as the test subjects). The experiment was cut short because the babies died. And when human contact was resumed, they stopped dying. Hence, our emotional lives are our social lives.
And taking another human being in toone’s arms (and allowing another human being to take one in to one’s arms -the other half of that “social contract”) is one of the most gratifying and satisfying of human endeavors there is (topped only by doing just that and galloping around a hall {the single-most social of all architectural structures [designed solely for the social gathering of humans]} in unison {and to music}).
Learning how to do this smoothly in a way pleasurable to one’s partner could be seen as a human skill essential to benign, human interaction, essential to an inner sense of well-being for skills attempted and skills mastered and essential to the survival of a strong and civil society itself (it will not surprise you to learn that we are of this philosophy ourselves) which seems to be currently falling into a shambles.
The social skills involved in Ballroom Dance are the foundation of etiquette itself, and as such, a fine way to socialize (develop a skill in {and an appreciation of} something sadly lacking in today’s cultural environment: Manners) children and young adults. Also, it is a way to keep our seniors engaged in society (not to mention physically active) in a way beneficial to their (and, ultimately, our) well-beeing.
On an individualistic level (socialness, the primary expression of our emotional lives is not the entirety of emotional expression {otherwise we would not have artists [or even art!]}) there is the very individual emotional satisfaction of attempting, developing and mastering a skill (there is almost no way that simple practice of dancing and playing with it {dancing, in other words} won’t allow one to master any and all of the skills involved in partner dancing).
And the ability to choose (and/or respond to) any figure in one’s repertoire in order to adapt to the circumstances of the dance floor whilst simultaneously artistically expressing the music itself through movement by two-dancing-as-one is an emotionally satisfying experience and joy in itself unparalleled in the annals of Emotionally-Satisfying-Experiences. Not to mention the annals of Joys-In-Itself. Learn, develop, master and experience this for yourselves.
There is an old saying that has not been as popular as it should be nor iterated as often as it should be: “It is important to remember that, with one trifling exception, the universe is populated entirely by others”.
Respect for the “other” is at a critical low right now. If more of us danced, perhaps that could be remedied.
Join us to redress this grievous wrong (and also to have fun learning how to dance). There needs to be more joy in the redressing of grievous wrongs. Come take that joy in classes.
Cheers,
Rick and Peggy Nixon
530) 853-4147 / 415)215-2652 (cell)
(Weekly Class schedule listed below.)
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THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE
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The Mountain Fitness Center (South):
1630 South Mt. Shasta Blvd, Mt. Shasta, CA 96067 (back parking lot is best, as the dance studio is a mere two steps from the back door)
Wed. July 17th BOLERO 6:45 – 7:45pm
Thur. July 18th TANGO 6:45 – 7:45pm
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CURRENT RATES Group Class Rates $10 Single Class ($10.00/class) $25 Four class Card ($6.25/class) $50 Eight Class Card ($6.25/class) $60 Ten Class Card ($6.00/class)
Private Lesson(s) Rates
$30 Half-hour Private Lesson ($25 at four per month or more) $60 One Hour Private Lesson (one per month or less) $50 One Hour Private Lesson (two per month or more) Hour Lessons may be divided into two ½ hour sessions at half the hourly rate each.
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