'Boom-Ka-Cha, Boom-Ka-Ka-Cha!' (ii)

Please note: This blog, like many Hollywood films, is based on real events.

Few people can move and feel from their toenails to their fingernails better than

professional dancers. That’s one reason why Guru Eddie is such a fan of Strictly Come

Dancing. (I did tell you in the first part of this blog that I was using the word strictly very

deliberately.) Indeed, I know for a fact that he wishes secretly that he was one of the

professional dancers on Strictly.

Every one of them can B-K-C, B-K-K-C with the very best. They, like all great dancers,

offer us many lessons about movement and emotional engagement. However, you don’t

have to be in great physical condition to be able to B-K-C, B-K-K-C, move with Joyous

Freedom, or dance with joy.

My Aunt Vivien had been in a wheelchair for a couple of years when I saw her for the

last time, at a family wedding. We sat together, watching everyone else dancing to a

series of 1970’s pop classics. No one was a professional dancer, and no one was taking

themselves seriously. Apart from two of my cousins – 18-year-olds who were desperate to show that they had some great moves. Aunt Vivien watched their shoulders

swivelling, their hips gyrating, and the faces contorting and wondered out loud if they needed to go to the toilet.

We chuckled together, and then I asked her if she missed being able to get up on the

dance floor like everyone else. She patted my hand and smiled at me in the way that

only the wisest of elders can do. ‘Just because my body isn’t moving,’ she said, ‘Don’t

think I’m not dancing in here.’ She tapped her heart. ‘Inside I’m tearing it up better than

those 18-year-olds…’

In hindsight, I reckon Aunt Vivien was a secret Silat Guru; one of the highest level, who

knew how to find movement in stillness.

Until next time, I hope you keep enjoying your martial practice. And that you find time

for at least some occasional silliness.

Boom-Ka-Cha

Boom-Ka-Ka-Cha!