A Cool Way to Connect
Not how I wanted to connect
Bob offered to drive me to dance today and to sit in the car and read while waiting to take me home. It was a sweet offer, but dance enlivens my emotions and spirit, and riding back with someone who has spent the hour reading the latest nutritional research wasn’t how I wanted to connect. Nor did I want him to join the dance, because it doesn’t do much for him.
I have another idea
“What if we create a dance playlist of our favorite songs and dance alone here?” I asked. He agreed.
I invited him to create a list of songs for each of the Five Rhythm categories: Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness. He did. I added a few of my favorite songs, burned a CD and we set aside 50 minutes to move, stretch, wiggle, play, and dance with it.
When Bob dances the 5 Rhythms with the group it does nothing for him. I wondered if he would get into our self-created Bob and Meryl Playlist Wave. He was a bit wooden in the beginning, but after just a few minutes, he was grooving and moving. It was fun, fun, fun.
It was a great way to connect. He enjoyed sharing music he loves with me. It enlivened us both.
When searching the Nirvana song Smells Like Teen Spirit (which I didn’t know since I missed the 80’s and early 90’s) I discovered Weird Al’s parody, Smells Like Nirvana. That was the highlight of our adventure.
Next week we will create a playlist of Beatles songs and dance to that.
Shared creation
Had I created a playlist without Bob, I doubt it would have been anywhere close to as powerful as this was. He chose music that brings out his inner dancer. I knew it was in there somewhere!
How can you apply this approach in your shared activities? Where might you include others in the design and creation of your shared worlds?
It was an awesome and satisfying day. What a cool way to connect.