Boyd 1

Jayde Boyd
Professor Ditch
English113B
February 18 2015
The Passion of Dance
Are you a part of a culture that takes you to a place of joyfulness and simplicity, where
you feel like thats the one thing in life that calls out to you? To where It brings you to a place of
peacefulness, calm and comfort? Where you can release your anger and hostility along with
enjoyment and insightfulness? An environment that brings you to a place of diversion where
nothing else matters. My self-identity , is that I am black female with Christian beliefs and I am
18 years old, happy and pursuing a college life. I was raised in a Christian home and along with
that came the beliefs. One thing that my mom always told me was in life you need to always
find time for something that makes you happy, and as long as its in good faith, you cant go
wrong. I take my religion and beliefs seriously and incorporate it in my daily life. As
mentioned earlier, people often understand their self-identities through cultural norms and
beliefs (Glenn, Williams, Jackson 121), I find this quote to be correct because I have found
who I am and the cultures that I belong to by abiding by my beliefs and knowing what they are.
I have found a culture that has given me a better way of life and an appreciation of the fact that I
had found something that truly makes me happy. At times I find myself so busy and stressed
that I dont have time to be happy. However I have found a culture in dancing that makes me
happy. A culture is the characteristic of a particular group of people defined by everything
from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and art (Zimmermann). Dancing is a
characteristic of life expressed by dance in a culture.

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Dancing is believed to be a culture because it is used worldwide to bring people who
enjoy it together. There are many different types such as alternative, modern, belly jazz, hiphop, salsa etc. It is used as a form of expression and even in some cases to tell stories or to
communicate religious beliefs. Dance is an art that is collectively achieved by people who
believe in it and practice it. This is why I believe in it. Like I was saying earlier on, everyone is
a part some culture whether they realize it or not. Not everyone dances thee exact same way, so
there are a lot of different types of dances that people perform. Anyone can dance, all races,
ethnicities, genders and colors
Dancing lifts me up to a place where I regain hope in many situations, it keeps me happy
and tranquil, in a place where Im at ease with life, where Im satisfied and can remain the same
me It helps me in my school life also, with assignments an friends and work and lastly priorities.
Dancing keeps me grounded in my college life also, by relieving worries and stress. This puts me
in a positive mood which drives me to do things like complete my work early and that stops the
stress and also procrastination. Dancing is my place of indulgence, where stress goes away and
youre relieved of the problems that you concern yourself with.
There are hundreds and thousands types of people with different current lifestyles in the
world, who are lost about who they are, who they want to be and how they are supposed to find
themselves. I am one of those people. For the longest time I thought that there wasnt anything
that I was good at that I actually enjoyed. I felt like there just wasnt room for me in anything,
until I discovered dancing; now I have found a piece of who I am, and a place where I belong. I
am a dancer and in this culture is where I belong. Being a dancer completes me, it helps me
balance my lifestyle, release and show my inner self, it fits along with the person that I am and
that is what makes me a part of the culture and a dancer. Dancing makes me who I am.

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I am an 18 year old, black girl. In many stereotypes it is said that black people and African
Americans are naturally good at dancing and movements mostly compared to hip-hop. I feel
like its not what you are born with or the color of your skin that determines how good you can
dance, but it is how you learn to use movements to express who you are and how you feel. That
is the art of dancing. Dancing is something that you feel within yourself. Personally I enjoy, hiphop dancing. Ive danced almost all my life from since I was little until now and I have enjoyed
it ever since. I consider myself to be a part of a Christian culture because of my beliefs a black
culture because of my ethnicity and a dance culture because of my passion to dance. You
embody multiple cultural identities and are composite of these (Kurylo 121). I believe that you
do embody different cultures because everyone is different. No one person is the same as
another, so there are many cultures that everyone is a part of whether they realize it or not. From
the age of about 8 years old my mother always from then on kept me enrolled in some type of
dancing class. Around the age of 11, I did drill team, when I reached 12 and 13 years old I did
cheerleading and then from then on I did dance team. All of those activities had different types of
configurations of dance but I clued in most and performed the best at hip-hop. This was the time
that I told myself I actually was good at something and did belong somewhere.
I value the dance culture because it makes me feel as if Im at home, I belong, and that I
am accepted. Ive learned that dancing is to not just do the moves correctly, but to put pieces of
yourself within the moves to express yourself. Almost as if youre releasing yourself and taking
in the art of dance. It gives me a place to be free and empower myself and learn new ways of
expression other than verbally. This culture also brings together people who value dancing and

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appreciates the outlet it provides. Dancing brings together groups of people in all types of ways.
There are partner dancing, groups and teams that even compete in competition against other
teams that dance.
Many peoples reaction to dancing is that it is not a culture, but just something people do
in their spare time. Many people also think that, they are not able to dance, but everyone can
dance, it might not look the same with every person but that is the beauty of the culture, it varies
from different backgrounds and people, maybe even different countries. There are different types
of movements that go along with different dance styles. This means everyone and anyone should
be able to find some type of movement that they feel that they could be a part of. Dancing is
open to anyone, it is not something that you are blocked off from, trying will not hurt anyone.
There are a lot of judgments made about dancing, from people that havent even tried it, so
maybe if it was given a chance it would change a lot of reactions and judgments.
Passion is a strong desire or feeling that pulls you to do something you truly love.
Dancing is my passion because it makes me happy. I have a desire to dance because it frees me
from reality; it is my escape to just be free in what makes me happy. It fluctuates between my
calm and aggressive life. Dancing appeals to me when I am calm and tranquil and when I am
filled with joy and excitement. The feeling I get when I learn a new dance or a new step makes
me feel accomplished, almost as if Ive overcome something and achieved it Not only is dancing
joyous to me but it is also healthy to exercise and stretch your body on a daily basis and also
good for mental health to relieve anger and frustration. Zoe Brerner states in Dance as a form of
exercise that The benefit to mental health derive from the improved self-esteem which results
from moving to music and cooperating with others, as well as from making new friends

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(Brerner) . This Intels that not only does dancing improve self-esteem but it also helps with
cooperating with others and making new friendships.
Overall before I found the culture of dance I was convinced that I didnt belong anywhere
or to any specific group. I was overly stressed most of the time and most of all I had no outlet; I
was not happy and couldnt relieve any stress. Dancing has not only shaped me into a calm,
happy, focused and grounded person, but it has impacted my life as well. My life is a lot calmer
and less stressful and more positive thanks to the culture of dance that I found and am now a part
of.

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Works Cited

Bremer, Zoe. Dance as a Form of Exercise. The British Journal of General Practice. Oxford
University Press, 1 Feb. 07. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.

Jackson II, Glenn, Williams Self-Identity and Culture. Penn state Berks, The University of North
Carolina, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Kurylo Culture and Communication. Marymount Manhattan College

Zimmermann, By Kim Ann. "What Is Culture? Definition of Culture." LiveScience.

TechMedia Network, 09 July 2012. Web. 16 Feb. 2015