Blog

« WHEN YOU TOUCH SOMEONE WITH RESPECT, SOMETHING CHANGES… »

Pierre Dulaine, professional dancer and dance teacher who won several prestigious awards.

What a beautiful conference* by Pierre Dulaine at TedxHollywood ! Pierre Dulaine reminds us how vital it is for us human beings to… dance !
With all of the new technlogy today, many of us no longer communicate face-to-face, many of us no longer talk to each other. We are become experts at isolating ourselves, experts at having a love relationship with… our computers…Thanks Pierre for reminding us how vital it is for us to reconnect to the most powerful way of communicating : through our instinctive, non-verbal communication. We forget too often the fact that it is through our eye contacts, through our body contacts… that we say the main part of our message ! Whereas getting into a public transportation, or, getting into the elevator, many of us not even take a look at each other.

Is it really easier to avoid our natural feelings and emotions ?

This conference reminds me also my favorite moment from the great movie « take the lead » : when Pierre Dulaine, alias Antonio Banderas, manages to convince the Head Teacher of the Public School he works for, that learning to dance is… learning to live.Before the reluctant parents associations, before the red angry mathematic teacher claiming that all of this story of ballroom dancing class is completely foolish, Pierre Dulaine asks quietly the Director if she may accept to… walk with him together, looking at each other. In other words… to dance with him.

During three minutes with bated breath, « something happens ». Only the mathematic teacher is laking patience from behind his serious glasses. All the others, deeply captivated by the demonstration, change their mind, understanding little by little… how dancing can teach and increase in each of us – listening, self-respect, discipline, teamwork and even… good manners -.

« This is the magic of ballroom dancing. It teaches many life skills. » explains Pierre in his recent TED talk (see the previous link posted). Dance can change your life. I strongly believe this. It changed mine, when I used to be in the middle of nowhere, facing a divorce process. Learning rock n’roll completely changed my way of living, of seing things, of communicating. Specially towards men, in this difficult period of my life.

Thanks again Pierre, for reminding us how magical life can be if we simply accept to, more and more every single day, manage to find our way back to – look at each other – walk with each other -, contributing to a better world for each of us, and specially for children living in a country at war. No time to loose for this ambitious project ! Let’s dance in pairs : BALLROOM DANCING CAN CHANGE OUR LIVES !

AND…

As a first (dance) step, if you liked this article, don’t forget to share it !  ; )

*link to see the Ted talk :