I teach a graduate level social work course on Tuesdays from 6-8pm. The students juggle work, school and family. I have been there and it is not pretty.
During check-in, they said their bodies felt sleepy, hyper, sick, headache, exhausted. When I asked them to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 (1=low, 10=high), how invigorated they felt, the total class score was 37 (about 16 students). After playing Bob Marley's 3 minute song, Stand Up, I asked for their "invigorated" ratings again. The class score went up by 10 points. This may or may not be statistically significant but the class decided it was worth it. Most students did not even have the energy to move, much less dance. One student said that with so much going on in her life, the words to the song ("Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight") were motivational even if she was too tired to dance. Too tired to dance? That makes me sad. We have prioritized dance out of our lives. That is not what the ancestors envisioned for us.
How do we reclaim our dance?
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Hi Alex! I was just thinking of you and remembered you had a blog! What an amazing journey that you're on! I would love to be in one of your classes and it sounds like such a unique experience that you provide your students, especially from your post above about the dance intervention. I know it's long overdue but I'd love to grab coffee or lunch whenever you're free! I'm studying for the LCSW now and looking for work in schools at the moment so my schedule is very flexible. I hope this finds you well and I look forward to reconnecting! Love, Kerry
ReplyDeleteHey, Kerry! So good to hear from you. Send me your contact info so we can catch up (aacunalcsw@gmail.com).
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