the spirit of Africa

An African young man from Guinea gave us an impromptu dance class at the picnic today. The guy is a phenomenal dancer and an excellent teacher. He had everyone dancing to a simple choreography, like four steps left, then right, then turn.

He is Native. He brings what Africa has to offer - a free happy spirit, freely moving body, totally flexible, totally comfortable, and free of any negativity that binds Westerners into stiffness. His spine and pelvis are totally free, his chest is free, when he moves, it propagates through the whole spine, the whole body moves, it is so graceful and very beautiful and very healthy.

He is not aware of it because it is natural to him, but he also teaches a sense of total comfort and joy, and delight in doing the same thing over and over again, and entertaining oneself with making each move different and creative. He kept so many people busy and having fun for about 1-2 hrs, just simple dancing together in a very simple but engaging coreography. It was completely delightful and truly the old fashion sense of fun and togetherness. He didn't need any props, special effects, nothing. He made up the games for us to play and we all spent time playing and having fun. For example, he'd ask us to clap our hands at some moments, then he'd change the dance to turn the next time, then we would charge forward, then come back...

In short, what he is teaching is healing - no boredom, no showing off, no games, no need to have it hyper or escape to drugs, tv, etc - just being happy with one has right at the moment. True freedom.