For the year 2026, I thought it’s a great time to come back to writing again. Rebuilding is a great way to learn and accommodating huge changes is certainly worth documenting. The biggest just yet is when I thought I was retired from dancing. But to my surprise, I came back to my core gene of performing.
Getting back to dance classes once again is like tapping home. Riccini Beloso Banham inspired me to listen to my soul, and what happens next? I found myself pursuing Polynesian Dance through Seiileafi. Not to mention, starting the year with a new addition to the skill set as a licensed Zumba instructor!
Not even a year later, I was by the HK Observation Wheel, sharing the stage with my family. And did I mention that I had several budding talents performing with me? The potential in each student was dynamically contagious while they moved to the island beats.
To be seen as a source of confidence was such a great feeling, and it was a channel of self-expression for our students. Since most of them are first-timers onstage, they were hesitant to go at first, knowing that they only had a 3-month worth of classes. But as soon as the rehearsals happened, they gained confidence and took over on the day.
It also helped when I imparted to them that this type of dance represents generations of tradition and culture. To that, it aims to allow anybody willing to join in the learning process.
In this journey, the whole new process to another first reminded me of what dance can do for you:
- Dance allows a great deal of self-expression. Performing onstage is taking on a role that will enable you to represent many things. It could be a character, a culture, or, surprisingly, the potential in you that you don’t get as much opportunity to express. Dancing encourages you to let go, to reach out to a moment and get into the rhythm. For someone who’s allowed to express themselves, it helps it grow.
- Dance prevents dementia. An ageing brain is susceptible to developing forgetfulness because of fewer stimuli and less social engagement. Dancing, as it encourages flow and movement, the brain is constantly proactive, not only because of the choreography but also because of the music that it responds to.
- Dance encourages a sense of self-achievement. This helps you to take a path towards better living. Namely, it will better your health, your social life and your self-esteem. Most especially when you do it with a community that has the same pursuit. Let’s put it this way, you are more likely to come again to a class if you have a buddy to go with because you want to rather than I have to – it’s a chance to see each other, and it’s good to have somebody to share the experience with. No experience? It’s alright, because you don’t feel alone.
- Dance wakes your creative side. Choreographers and dance instructors can give you the steps and the dance, but it’s your interpretation that will get it to execution. Enacting the story it tells and the meaning it carries creates a different thread of history and creativity.
- Dance helps you live better. You are compelled to move with a reason; it gives you something to look forward to, and it allows you to improve yourself. It builds your confidence that feeds the highest need for humans, that sense of self-achievement. And with the satisfaction of being able to transcend to such attained expression, the potential of it flows and expands as you immerse yourself more into it.
TRUSTING THE PROCESS
Learning is a continuous innovation of oneself. From the standpoint of a teacher, I believe I am learning even from the craft itself. My students teach me a lot about perspective, reasoning and individuality. I have a higher regard for one’s uniqueness, most especially when sharing their opinion or when I simply brainstorm with them. Regardless of age, there’s more than ideas reflected, but the language that they use, the presentation they approach me with and why they need to be heard are all part of the process.
So, if you know that there are some other benefits that I may not have thought about, feel free to share them below, and I would gladly learn from yo,u too.
