Written by: Autumn Stone
Everyone talks about the post festival blues or how their rave experience opened their eyes for the better, but not many talk about the healing properties that come with your time being at a show, big or small. Yes, we talk about how music feeds the soul, that much is true. Music itself can improve your mood, relieve stress, and make you happier overall, according to researchers Signy Sheldon and Julia Donahue at the McGill University in Canada in 2017. However, as a long time music lover and dancer, I can say that I have witnessed and experienced that there is more to the healing aspect that festivals bring than just the music.
When I was a little girl and my friend brought me to a “Bring Your Friend To Dance Day,” I was immediately hooked. My favorite thing that my dance instructor used to say to me was “if it feels weird, you’re doing it right.” That phrase has stuck with me ever since and I now use it with my own dance students. There’s so much truth to that saying because there are no correct dance movements if you really think about it. Someone somewhere decided to contort their body in a certain way and gave it a name. That’s why I believe anyone can dance as long as you’re willing to try and festivals are a great place to try it out without being judged. I myself used to be scared to have all eyes on me with the fear of
being ridiculed, but the rave community is like no other. We truly are a family who love and support one another without question. My favorite thing to do at a show is see how the music moves an ocean of people and brings everyone together one headbang at a time.
Dance has always been such an outlet for me and I’m sure many others as well. Whether you are feeling sad, happy, or angry, dancing it out as they did in Grey’s Anatomy or Footloose, is such a breath of fresh air so to speak. From a more psychological standpoint, dance therapy also known as DMT (dance movement therapy), is defined as the “psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, social, cognitive, and physical integration of the individual, for the purpose of improving health and well-being” as stated by the American Dance Therapy Association. This kind of therapy has been used to treat a variety of mental health disorders, body image concerns, physical health, and so much more. It truly heals from the outside in. I highly recommend reading more about it in Psychology Today to learn all the different ways this type of therapy can improve anybody and everybody.
With festival season at its end and seasonal depression kicking in, don’t hang up that pashmina just yet. Wrap it around, turn on some funky beats, grab a flow toy if that’s your thing, and get moving. Happy dancing and I’ll see you beautiful humans at the next fest!
With luv,
Autumn Stone
