Dear LPG,  

I hope there are few people, no matter what their age who would not shake a shoulder or wiggle a hip if the right bit of music invaded their ears.  Music has a way of doing that to you doesn’t it?   I hope that readers caught the video that inspired me to write on the subject last year where there is undoubtable proof that no one is too old for a little dance because, in my eyes, the video that I wrote about illustrates just that (►►►).

 Since time immemorial Dancing has been important in every countries culture.  We know that because when you look up different nationalities of the world so many of them are known for their unique national dances along with food, language and costumes, and you only have to see a few of the movements, and hear a bit of the music to transport yourself to that part of the world. 

The English among us have Morris dancing as part of our heritage while the Scottish have their Highland Fling.  Few would not be able to recognise the Spanish Flamenco, the French Cancan, the Indian baccho ka, Russia’s folk dances, those German knee slapping dances, American square dances, all the hip shaking that South America has to offer or a Chinese fan dance; and those dances are all pre hip hop, jive and body popping.   I can remember my days of cutting a rug in my early twenties and I defy anyone to tell me that they remember that part of their lives without a dance or two included.  It makes me feel quite exhausted just thinking about some of them.  

Today is the International Day of Dance and, in preparation, I thought it would be nice to take a look at what YouTube has to offer by way of national dance memory-joggers.  Having done that it was only fair to share it with my fellow LPG readers so I hope that you have a minute or two to click on the links.  Perhaps one or two of them will get your foot tapping although I have to warn you that, at our age, I am sure that many of them will remain memories and dances that it might well be too late for us to experiment with at our age, but I hope everyday inspires each and every one of us to as they say ‘let the music take control’ for just a minute or two.

GM, Crofton Park.

GM shares links to some of the national dances that she hopes will be celebrated today…

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