Dance Is Always “In Season”

October brings the true change of season; nature pulls out its palette of reds, yellows, and oranges to add dramatic flair to the landscape as the cool air is warmed by the autumn sun.  At National Dance Clubs, October also brings the pageantry and sparkle in our biggest performance of the year: our Showcase.

2016’s showcase, In Season, directed by JT Thomas, brought the spectrum of feelings to color the amazingly beautiful fall day.  The dances illustrated the gamut of emotions and experiences life can present of each of us, showing the panorama of life.  They also showed that dance itself is always in season.  No song epitomized this more than the Murfreesboro National Dance Clubs’ staff routine, “Beautiful Things.”

So many times in our life we can feel alone.  We can feel unseen or misunderstood.  We step into the background to let others shine.  We swallow our disappointments and the pain that feelings of isolation bring.  We fear sometimes we are stuck in a place we no longer want to be, trapped by habit and expectations.

If once in your life you wished you were someone else,
If once in your life you thought there was no way out,
If once in your life you’d like to save yourself realize,
Somehow there are beautiful things.

One day, we take a gamble and walk in to our first dance lesson.  We swallow our fears enough to try to become something more, something new.  Welcomed joyfully into the community of dancers and the culture of the National Dance Clubs, we begin to see the beauty in ourselves and those around us in ways we may not have before, and this is never so evident as at Showcase.  This realization radiates when students don that marvelous, sparkling costume for the first time with their hair and make-up completing the transformation.  Dancers feel the adrenaline rush of anticipation, fear, excitement, exhilaration, and triumph.  You cannot help but feel beautifully alive and connected when you perform in showcase.

Dance with me and sing with me
To the sounds when we make love.
Somehow those are beautiful things.

Your god is a beautiful thing,
Our world is a beautiful thing,
Our mind is so beautiful,
Our bodies are beautiful things,
And colors and wonder are
Beautiful things,
Our voices are – your voices are,
Just sing – just sing your song.

Just as happiness is magnified by moments of sadness,  beauty does not come from perfection, but in the experience of the breadth of the entire experience in the show–from the things that went right, to the impromptu choreography of the day, and the unexpected roller coaster of emotions the day brings.  We learn to enjoy and appreciate the ride in all its shades, and that beauty is in the imperfection, in the expression, and in the connection.  Our notion of who we are and what we are capable of becomes expands.  When we dare to dance with others and in front of others, we help each other find the beauty in ourselves and in all things.

Can we find it in us,
Can we find it in us,
Can we find it when we’re broken.
Please show us how.
Can we find it in us,
Can we find it in us,
Can we find it with no backdoor.
Can we find it in us,
Can we find it in us now.

Somehow we are beautiful things.