Why we should dance
Do you dance? While more than half of you might answer, “No, I have two left feet. I can’t dance,” do you know that dancing is an innate human ability? Think of a child who’s just months old right now. Chances are, he/she moves to the rhythm that look like dance moves when exposed to music. And babies do this way before they can even walk or talk. I’m sure you did too.
So, what happens along the way? Why do most of us drop dancing altogether? Maybe because it is not given a lot of importance. We tend to focus on teaching our kids how to read, write, etc. and dancing is quite low in the totem pole.
But do you know that there are a lot of benefits we can derive from dancing? In fact, if you trace its history, the tradition has been with us thousands of years ago. It has played an important role in our ceremonies, rituals, celebrations, entertainment, healing, offering to the gods, etc. What comes to my mind right now when I think of the power of dance is that of Salome. Because the king was so enthralled with her dance, he promised to give her anything that she would ask for. And she asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter!
In a Catechism class I took a long time ago as a Xavier School parent, I remember the part where Fr. Johnny Go, S.J. talked about our personal relationship with the Lord and how it is primarily affected by how we perceive God. These are:
- God as puppet master
- God as watchmaker
- God as dancing partner
I pick the dancing partner because as much as I respect the notion that you are where God wants you to be right now and everything happens for a reason, I don’t see Him as a puppet master. And even if I know that His design of the world beats that of all the best watchmakers combined, I know that He allows (or even expects) me to play an active role in living out my life. He gave me free will, for Christ’s sake! (pun intended) 
So you see, dancing is really very important in our life. Some of the benefits we can derive from dancing follow:
- Allows self-expression
- Good form of exercise
- Source of entertainment
- Promotes socialization
- Promotes unity
- Provides physical and mental refreshment and relaxation
- Reduces incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s
- For married couples, dancing regularly together enhances your relationship
Several years ago, my husband and I incorporated dancing in our Friday schedule. Nothing fancy. Most of the time, when we come home from our FriDate, we just play our music and dance together to a few songs in our playlist before we change to sleepwear and watch Netflix.
Do you know that some marriage counselors now prescribe dancing? According to Dr. Hokule’a Borofsky, dancing together brings the magic spark in a marriage. It offers a perfect set of conditions to bring couples close together. It is flirtatious, sexy, fun, and exciting and could bring some of that honeymoon stage energy back to the relationship, whether your marriage is on the rocks or not. The big enemy of happy long-lasting marriage is boredom. Dancing, especially choreographed dancing, is a great antidote to boredom.
For our 30th wedding anniversary, I gifted Marvin with tap dance lessons and we’re having our first lessons this Saturday. We really plan to grow old together happily ever after and I think dancing will help us keep the fire burning and as number 7 says, ward off dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Needless to say, all our family celebrations always have dance numbers. In the next few days, I will be sharing with you short dance clips from our Pearl Wedding on FQ Mom You tube channel. Watch out for these.
Top photo: 1930s couple dance. Below: Fausto brothers’ dance during the Pearl Wedding celebration.
So for today, let me end with cheers to high DQ (Dance Quotient)! 
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Tomorrow Thursday, I’ll share with you our Pearl Wedding 1930s couple dance which we really enjoyed! It was choreographed by our favorite choreographer Anton Fausto (https://www.facebook.com/AntonHosting/). I hope you’ll enjoy this as much as we did.
2. On Friday, for our #FQwentuhan, I’ll share our sons’ dance special number again choreographed by Anton, and performed with brothers Martin and Enrique. We are very proud of their work and we really felt their love for us on this momentous occasion.
3. Mom and Son Podcast – Season 3, Episode 8 (No TV on weekdays? Baywindow performances?)
From the bunso:
My brothers and I grew up not watching TV or playing video games on weekdays. How did this rule and the structure of these rules affect us growing up? We discuss and actually discover how little tweaks and edits to house rules can have huge effects that help shape the character of kids growing up. We have mentioned the baywindow performances many times in our past episodes, as well as the FQ Mom’s articles. We dive deeper into this “ritual” of performing before bedtime. Join us and stream now!
#MomAndSonPodcast
Stream the episode through these links:
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4UpwDN5Cy3lYbqc3wUYvvG?si=1YjNTSFnTQSD1U_Vr5Ulsg
Apple iTunes
https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/mom-and-son-podcast/id1449688689?mt=2
Google Podcasts
https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8yNDE0NDcucnNz
YouTube
(Originally uploaded in Anton Fausto’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/rJU-SPkB7ZA)
4. Thanks to those who already bought the FQ Book, especially to those who took the time out to send me their feedback. Your feedback is food for my soul. To those who have not gotten their copy yet, here’s a short preview of "FQ: The nth Intelligence."
You may now purchase the book in major bookstores, or if you want autographed copies, please go to FQ Mom FB page (click SHOP), or FQMom.com (click BOOKS), or email us at FQMomm@gmail.com.
Rose Fres Fausto is a speaker and author of bestselling books “Raising Pinoy Boys” and “The Retelling of The Richest Man in Babylon” (English and Filipino versions). Click this link to read samples – Books of FQ Mom. She is a behavioral economist, a certified Gallup strengths coach and the grand prize winner of the first Sinag Financial Literacy Digital Journalism Awards. Follow her on Facebook&YouTube as FQ Mom, and Twitter&Instagram as theFQMom. Her latest book is “FQ: The nth Intelligence.”
