Art Beat: Let's dance

Hi, my name is Jacob Mann. I cover the Art Beat for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

I think it’s safe to say most of us dance, even if it’s just once or twice a year, or the occasional driving jirations jamming to the car radio.

My dad is a terrible dancer, but he’s got his go-to hand pistol gestures for just about any genre of music. My grandma is also prone to shake her hands and point to whoever’s riding in the car with her whenever the Beach Boys or the Bee Gees hit the airwaves. My dad is one of the grumpiest people I know and my grandma is just about the sweetest thing since sliced cinnamon raisin bread, but they both dance time and again.

The way a good song, or even a slightly catchy one evokes movement is almost as indescribable as it is unquestionably magnetic. Music is basically as old as verbal communication itself, and dancing has been attached at its hip the entire time. But, music and whatever dance comes with it is more than verbs and it’s more than a rhythm or even a movement. It’s something more, something from the very ether of life itself.

Altogether, the beauty of dancing is in its simplicity. The simple act of bobbing your head or tapping your toes takes you to an entirely different state of being, even if the tune comes from your very own head.

Music has been here for a long time and it’s here to stay, at least as long as there’s people around to make it, listen to it and of course, dance to it. Like I’ve said in past columns, most of us enjoy music. So, I think I can safely claim that most of us also feel the urge to move our bodies to a beat now and again.

This column is dedicated to the superstars singing and shaking their hips in the shower, the dads playing lullaby covers of classic rock and heavy metal songs to their kids, the happily married couples who play songs they’ve called their own and dance on their anniversaries the same way they danced during their weddings, and everyone else who can’t help but dance. So with that said, let’s dance.

“That’s why I love music, man. Anything that makes a human being want to go [proceeds to wildly shake around with his arms flailing and feet kicking] is okay with me.”

— Jim Carrey

“Dance is the hidden language of the soul.”

— Martha Graham

“Consciousness expresses itself through creation. This world we live in is the dance of the creator. Dancers come and go in the twinkling of an eye but the dance lives on. On many an occasion when I am dancing, I have felt touched by something sacred. In those moments, I felt my spirit soar and become one with everything that exists.”

— Michael Jackson

“Let’s dance

Put on your red shoes and dance the blues

Let’s dance

To the song they’re playin’ on the radio

Let’s sway

While color lights up your face

Let’s sway

Sway through the crowd to an empty space”

— David Bowie