Fieldwork Diary Entry (July 7, 2014)

I have decided to bring my field work to a close, albeit reluctantly, in order to start the process of tying everything up.

I say reluctantly for I want to go out dancing more than ever. Like many of the people within my research, I had allowed it to fall aside as a priority.  Forcing myself to go out dancing, for the purposes of this fieldwork research has reminded me how important it is to flex the everyday dance muscle and keep it working.  As Joanna Zawadzka said in our interview 

It’s so strange that, as you were saying it [dancing] should be second nature, like walking [and] it’s not and it’s so sad that we are human beings, we've somehow isolated dancing to be something that has to be learnt so well. It’s like practising a language. Sometimes you’re embarrassed to speak another language until you've perfected how you pronounce it and I think that dancing can be the same.

The benefits of going out dancing are numerous. But for me it comes down to one thing.

A enjoyable session of spontaneous social dancing gives me a unique sense of well-being.  

It's not something that always happens when out dancing and it's not something that can be controlled. It either happens or it doesn't.

But when it does, it really is for me, the ultimate high.

It's a high that is cumulative and resonates through into all areas of my life. It stays on and magnifies in effect; benefitting relationships, outlook, physical and emotional health, creativity. It is holistic in its effect upon me and my life.

That's why I have decided that as tough as it is with work, kids, energy, time, no-one to go dancing with, crappy clubs, ad nauseum; I want to ensure that I go out dancing regularly. I have found through my research that there are places for people of my age to go and there is no real reason not to go apart from not wanting to make the effort. Every other barrier is just perception.

My husband asked me after all this research, why do I think people don't go out dancing as much anymore when they enter a certain stage of life.

I started citing all the reasons I had been given and all the trends shown.  Why for people in our age demographic, going to the gym is easier. Going out to dinner is easier. Seeing a film is easier.

And then I said this.

I think that there is an unknown element to going out to dance freestyle. You really cannot predict what dancing is going to happen or how you are going to feel. You have to expose yourself on a certain level in order to be able to get into it and enjoy it. It can be a difficult thing to do, especially when you have fallen out of the habit and also have no-one to go with. Even with the best will in the world, it can require a lot of effort. I love going out dancing and even I barely went before all this research forced me out there again.

I look around at my age demographic and everyone is knackered. They are tired from work, looking after property and other material belongings, rearing families, health issues, financial pressures, aging parents and just the rigmarole of day to day life.

But you know what? It isn't going to get any better.

If you are knackered, do a bit less of this
(Image taken from here)

It doesn't make sense to me that at a period in our lives when we need all the benefits that dancing can provide the most, we do it the least.

And a bit more of this
(Image taken from here)

I don't have any more answers than when I first started this research. Only a stronger conviction of the importance of incorporating everyday dance into everyday life.