Naked Dancing isn’t necessarily about dancing naked, but let’s start with that!
What has popped into your head as you imagine yourself dancing naked?
Can you imagine yourself dancing naked?
I don’t know about you, but stripping off and dancing and feeling comfortable doing so is quite a push. I wasn’t brought up believing my naked body should be seen other than in very specific situations – dancing was not one of them. But when I take away my deeply ingrained feelings of shame about nakedness, I also feel a deeper, instinctive, wild woman connection and desire to be naked and to dance. Instinctively I feel it as an expression of freedom, being unbound, letting go of made up restrictions and rules.
I remember many years ago being at a festival, standing around a large communal fire. It was late and dark, the fire was warm and crackling with life and light. People were drumming and there was collective motion and rhythm and swaying of bodies. I was moving to the drum beats, staring into the flames and then from across the other side of the fire I saw a beautiful young woman. She was topless, confident, and completely attuned to the drumming, the fire and her own body. She looked so free and connected to something more and beyond the collection of people around the fire. I wished in that moment that I too had the confidence to strip off my clothes and allow myself to be in my own expression.
I understand now, that for me at that time I was still shackled to the idea that when I danced it was not just for my pleasure but also for the pleasure of who ever was watching me. I was always conscious of how I looked when I moved my body. Did I look sexy enough? Were my moves acceptable? Did I look ‘too’ much? Was I out of control?
Dancing to those criteria did not allow me to be free in my own body. I did not allow myself to move beyond the impression others would have of me. This also meant that what clothes I wearing, how I did my hair, my make-up, my adornments, the moves I made took centre stage rather than allowing myself to be fully expressed through my body – take all of costume away, I would be left with my naked body and frozen in fear!
What I have learned is that naked dancing is more than being naked, in fact naked dancing doesn’t require me to be naked at all, unless I want to be of course!
Naked dancing is then, more about dancing to our own rhythm, our own moves. It is feeling into our body, our energy, our wild woman instinctual dance. Naked Dancing is when we are no longer concerned about what anyone else see’s of thinks about the way we express ourselves through our own body. Naked Dancing is being aligned to the song of our Soul, to the heart beat of Mother Earth, to the call of merging our body, mind and spirit energy.
Have you ever allowed yourself to naked dance – to dance with absolute freedom from caring about what others might think of you?
Why not have a go at dancing in a completely different way to that which you are used to? You could start in the privacy of your own home. Put on a favourite piece of music and have a go at Naked Dancing. Move parts of your body that perhaps are not included in your usual style of dance. Try letting go of any sort of ‘choreographed’ moves. Shaking your body is a great way to free up your energy flow, you could start with just shaking and shaking until you feel a looseness, a letting go and see what emerges. And yes, you could also try all of this being naked too.
Or perhaps, if you like dancing with the energy of others, you could try
• 5 Rhythms
• Ecstatic Dance
• Dance outside, around a fire, with others drumming
What ever you choose, I wish you joy and pleasure and a deeper connection to your wild woman self.