Kizomba Alma ~ The gift of Kizomba
I am writing to you from Sydney, Australia, the year is 2020. It’s April and the world is about to change. A worldwide pandemic is sweeping across the world, connecting us in a way we have never felt before. Our capacity for empathy is quadrupling each day, as we recognise that we are intimately connected with every being on earth. We are thinking about the same things, we have the same concerns, the same restrictions and the same invitation to growth. Mother earth put us all on the same guest list at her end of the world party, and for some of us we are really wishing this party had Kizomba!
We have to practice social distancing and so for the thousands of us who live and breathe Kizomba dance, a portion of our air supply has been seemingly cut off, or has it?
I feel it really is the end of the world. The old world that we knew, was not working. It called us to live in a painful duality. It split us into camps > Mind or body, black or white, feminine or masculine, lead or follow? It called us to choose a path and stick with it. It called us to value our separation from the collective oneness that is innate between all beings. It called us to see ourselves as hyper individuals and extremely important.
This end of the world party got pretty big pretty quickly and it has allowed us to take a deep dive inward. After so many thousands of years of validating our sense of “productivity”, and showing off about our collective burn out, Mother earth has sent us all to our rooms to think about what we have done, and more importantly what do we want to do from here?
We want to dance! Obviously.
But when we come back to the dance floor, even this will be different. And I can’t wait.
I have been thinking a lot about Kizomba, my relationship to this dance and my place in the community. I have been contemplating the question,
“What is the gift of Kizomba?” Both to me and to everybody else.
I love to dance alone. I love to practice Kizomba alone, to feel my own energy and experiment with my body, but Kizomba offers me another layer that I only appreciate even more during this strange time of lock down ~ It is the gift to see and dance with our soul and that of another person.
If we choose to, when we enter the kizomba embrace with love and an open mind, all manner of magical things are possible. We are being gifted a raw and safe moment of complete vulnerability. On a human level we are connected with all of our senses to ourselves and to our partner. We can become enveloped in the nurturing of human touch, and move in synchronised patterns to the hypnotic music that feeds our souls. But Kizomba offers us much more than this.
Regardless if you are sensitive to energy, or work in this field, you have a “sixth sense” you are a spirit in a body, and when you feel those moments of being completely open, surrendered and trusting in the kizomba embrace, you can sense something more than your partner's body. You can feel their soul, and you can feel your own.
It may not happen all of the time, you may not have even thought about it like this before, but I know you know what I am talking about.
Kizomba offers us many levels of connection. First of all we are gifted with our human connection. Pleasure. We can feel with our human body. The earthy ginga, or the subtle isolations of our body and of our partner. We are in bliss. Then we sink deeper into the dance and we access our emotional body, our water element. We can feel our emotions. Perhaps we were sad that day and putting on a brave face. In the rawness of the kizomba embrace you may find those feelings springing to the surface of your skin. You may even feel your partner's emotions. Then, if we allow ourselves to move even deeper into the dance, consciously or by surprise we find ourselves dancing with pure energy. We sense things we cannot put exactly into words. Perhaps you see colours or symbols, or perhaps you just feel the “essence” of yourself or of the other person. You feel you are speaking the same language, yet no one has said a word. You may have an epiphany, a revelation, an overwhelming sense of peace or deep love. You may feel you are one.
This oneness is the essence of the new world that is being birthed right now. Old structures are being dismantled and we are being called to do the same. We are being called to truly step into our light work on this planet. To follow our deepest callings, and our hearts, and to live from this place of oneness.
To feel oneness on the dancefloor, we first need to feel it within.
We can only meet people as deeply as we have met ourselves.
The incredible rapture of knowing oneness, or soul dancing with another will only come to you when you honour your own light, your own essence and reunite your internal oneness.
Now that we cannot dance together, I see this as a beautiful invitation to dance from the inside out. To explore our bodies deeply. To learn to move our own physical bodies, to enjoy the sensation, to learn and experiment. To know our emotions and allow them to be expressed as we dance and hold space for ourselves. To know our own soul, our own energy and light codes, to open ourselves up to the mysteries we cannot see.
Imagine the kind of mind blowing dances we will have when we meet each other again if we have taken this opportunity to meet ourselves. Our whole community can be transformed by this new wave of consciousness, and just by doing what we love; dancing, we can play a small role in raising the vibration of our planet.
The gift of Kizomba is the gift of soul dancing. To allow us to see beyond the physical masks of ourselves and others and to dance as one.
I would love to hear from you, if this piece struck a chord please feel free to like and share around and write your comments :)
Words~ Genevieve Rogan
Genevieve is a Kizomba teacher, Dancing Medicine healer and women’s embodiment guide. Her journey through life with dance as her biggest teacher has seen her create the souldance methodology of teaching to allow her students to connect with their highest wisdom through dance. To stay updated on her online offerings stay connected through her website and social media platforms.
During the lockdown you can join her Daily Dose program, 5 weekly classes to help you connect to your highest self through dance.
Follow the link below to enrol (for international enrolments please email)
https://www.dancingchange.com/online-school-1/daily-dose