Serendipity When You Ain’t Even Looking For It

photo credit: Saparevo

When is the last time you just stumbled onto something that took your breath away?

Thanksgiving dinner was enlightening.  It just took about 5 days for me to know it.

Sitting near my not-exactly-sister-in-law at dinner and the conversation turned to kids and growing up. One of her daughters is a dancer, and quite accomplished at it. She mentioned that the dancer was aware of how difficult it might be to have a career as a dancer. She was interested in doing dance therapy.

Dance therapy? I had no idea what she was talking about; it was something I never heard of.  My ignorance is due mostly to the size of the sea of things I don’t have a clue about.

So, we ate; we stayed another day; we drove home.

That Sunday,  my sweetheart, who is always on the prowl for anything that will help me with my cultural bankruptcy, sent me an article from the NY Times.  I have learned that when she sends something, I better read it.  There is probably going to be a quiz on it later.

It turns out there certainly is a vocation in Dance Therapy.  It’s a little further refined, winding up dance/movement therapy. A dancer/therapist worked with a man by the name of Greg Mozgala.  She would teach him dance.  He was already in the arts – an actor.  This actor is unique in a lot of ways, including the fact that he has cerebral palsy.  I recommend the article, but when you go there, the main thingI want you to do is to watch the video, where he and his teacher movement therapist perform their creation, Diagnosis of a Faun.  Click to the article, page down, and watch it

“I have felt things that I felt were completely closed off to me for the last 30 years,” he said. “The amount of sensation that comes through the work has been totally unexpected and is really quite wonderful.”  via Overcoming Cerebral Palsy, Gregg Mozgala Learns to Dance – NYTimes.com.

AS Mr. Mozgala puts it,  “It’s not over,” he said. “There’s always a chance to change. You should not — you dare not — give up.”

Couldn’t agree more.