The Possession

I still have it!

My youngest sibling is dating a lovely young woman we will call "P". P.~ is glowing with that initial infatuation that disappears for so many after you learn the badside is around more often than the good one. But I still am excited by their blushes and nervousness- let optimism have this one, this time...

P.~ was left with me one evening while my brother, reluctantly went out with his friends. "Too much togetherness..." was the 'culprit' according to my brothers' friends. "You two need so space." So while he was somewhere he clearly knew he did not want to be, under the guise of giving each other space, I entertained P.~ with some movies from my tired DVD collection (EVERYONE has seen these movies at least twice!). The first film was "Drumline"(2002). I mentioned to P.~ that I once was a highstepper/dance majorette in high school, "we were called the 'Rebelettes' because our mascot was the Rebel." "Oh! You went to J.A.!" "Yes I did." I admitted proudly. The next movie was "Step Up"(2006). When P.~ saw the main character dancing outside of the dance school in the beginning of the film, she sighed "I wish I could dance like that...". "Why do you think you can't?" I inquired. She went into this very long, drawn out, rehashed monologue about how she was the only Puerto Rican in her family who had no rhythm. After she finished, I explained to her that what people referred most often to as rhythm was actually 'timing'. "You learn the timing of the beat/rhythm and you catch the tempo with your movements." She looked at me vapidly. I searched through my movies, abruptly removing "Step Up" and inserted "Stomp The Yard" (2007).

"See how they make the rhythm with their feet and clapping, I want you to think of a song with a quick tempo and 'mimic' the rhythm of it with your hands." " I can't do THAT!" she whined loudly. "I bet if you try, you can!" I reassured her by getting up and mimicking Rihanna's "Umbrella" (one of my favs) while she listened to it on her Ipod first, and watched me; then I went through the steps again while she only listened to my clapping, knee slapping and stomping. "How do you do that?!" she asked. I had her follow my movements as if I was her choreographer; she followed until she felt she had the simple step I'd put together for the song down pat, then I had her do it wearing her earplugs in. Then I cleared a space and let her do it a couple of times with her eyes -mostly- closed. "Do you 'feel' the beat...where it lands..?" I asked. "I think so..." was her reply. I had her try one on her own, Trick Daddie's "Take It To Da House". She got cocky. "But I want to learn THAT...I want to crump!" she whined. "Okay, I'll teach you-" she laughed so hard she fell over on the couch. "This isn't you like, line dancing...or break dancing-" she warned me. "They are flippin' and stuff!" I explained to her that if she hadn't taken gymnastics or played on a discarded mattress in a vacant lot, she was already behind the game. "But I can still teach you the moves they do squatting, kneeling and standing." "For real?!" "For real..."

It proved very difficult to infuse her with my passion for music. I'd explained to her how you can move gracefully while still having fun with it. She was missing the fun- the 'clowning' of the crumpin'. I stared at the beautiful print I had of my Grand Dame of the musical and vaudeville, Madame Josephine Baker, and tried to remember what she said about her "danse sauvage", but the quotes escaped me. Madame Josephine knew it wasn't worth getting on the stage unless you had fun; she was clowning ALL the time. "Maybe I'm not wild enough, cuz what I'm doing don't look like what you doing." P.~ said defeatedly. I thought about Beyonce's 'channeling' of Madame Josephine for her video "De Ja Vu", then about her "Crazy (in love)" video. I popped in my video of videos which had "Crazy (in love)" on it. "Watch this and mimic her movements- don't get self-conscious now, just do it."

She watched it straight through four times before I felt she was ready. "Now do those moves to the beat of THIS song" I found "Ring the Alarm" on her Ipod. "But this song is faster-" "Then you will MOVE faster". She danced- jerkily- until she realized what I wanted her to do. She began moving her body, using the steps and movements she'd seen to the song. She got it- she was crumpin'! She crumped every song she could off her Ipod, then I gave her her final test. "Crump off THIS and you have learned all I can teach you". I put on a old favorite from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack "local god" by Everclear. She listened to it all the way through first, then replayed it and got crump diddity dee dump! I loved when she 'matrixed' the part where he says "oh! you look so stupid..". SWEETness! My baby brother caught her dancing and she didn't shy off the floor. His eyes were big like saucers. "What did you- what happened?! She NEVER dances!" "She will from now on." I laughed.

Here P.~ was, not realizing what her freedom of movement meant; just happy to be un-selfconscious about the way her body moves. She was now one of many who would dance and seem 'possessed' by the rhythm: hair sweated out; face flushed; smile beaming. That is how I am in clubs- it is my natural high; my anti-drug. I am everywhere and nowhere...with everyone real and alone in my imagination, all at once. And knowing how much my little brother loves to dance, they can share this pleasure of the body and mind...like they are 'possessed' of the same spirit.


I don't care if people literally bloody POINT AT YOU and laugh when you get on the dance floor! Close you eyes, listen deeply and move!
I belong to the sisterhood of 'possessed' dancers that share the "dance of life" in the form of bellydance. I took formal dance classes for the ballet, african dance, tap and interpretive dance as well. But I would never give up salsa, the tango and club steps- all which I learned IN clubs. Kisses, M.~