Britvic Dancer - nope, rhythm ain't a dancer...

This is one of my favourite ads in the UK.  Everytime it is aired, whatever I'm in the midst of, I'd stop and watch, with a smile.

 

I've always loved dancing.  It is an expression of passion.  I'm what you might call a 'freestylist' executing moves according to my mood.  I don't follow 'steps' like some automaton.  Dancing is an expression of the primitive passion of the God that sits in the inner temple of the soul.  A primitive expression that calls on the genetic inheritance of the primitive passion of all of one's ancestors.  To anyone who wants to learn to dance, I always say, 'don't learn how to dance, learn how to feel, and you'll know how to dance'.  And then, when you dance, you'll be unique as it will be a result of the unique feeling and passionate being that you uniquely are. 

Not so in the case of most singaporeans who mechanically execute steps and think it qualifies them as 'dancers'. Pooh, pooh with icing on top.  I sometimes see so-called 'breakdancers' in the basement of a particular shopping mall (suntec city's 'citylink') and can't help shaking my head in disgust.  You see them executing steps, but there is no passion on their faces or in any movement.  That's a far cry from the 80s when we used to 'break' with vigour and passion (doing it in public was prohibited back then...the authorities frown on any impromptu public display/practice/promotion of passion...I think it might be because generic passion can possibly translate into a healthy sense of one's possible identities and which can, in turn, possibly increase one's propensity to exhibit it in other arenas - like politics for instance;) ).  And when I see 'dancers' on the telly competing with each other, I shake my head again with disappointment.  Why am I disappointed?  Because, just as I exude passion – as anyone who knows me would attest to – I feed off it as well.  Thus, the singapore of the 90s to the present has done much to compromise the further growth of passion within myself via its culture of tradition, imitation as opposed to invention, uniformity, and intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic conformity.  No wonder they are such ho-hum 'expressionists' - be it in dance, art, thought, etc.

It's simple actually.  Without Passion in Life, as exhibited, say, in passionate discussions/thoughts/beliefs/etc on potentially incendiary or taboo topics such as politics, sex, social life; imagining out-of-the-box when it comes to what construes a 'better life'; and keeping alive one’s generic curiosity in the face of the novel, one cannot expect to perform significantly in, say, the dance floor, in bed or on the podium.  Even food plays a part in bringing out great passion - one of the reasons why I go for spicy Indian food as opposed to other relatively sedate food.  Through these different types of passion-inciting activities, one’s generic reservoir of Passion is fed, and serves as ‘viagra’ in opening up the tributaries that consequently release the floodgates that irrigate the fields of expression in other arenas. 

You see, Rhythm might enable you to keep in step, but it is Passion that gives it Life.

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