(Maybe this should be on it's own thread, but I'll piggy back on this one)
I have been taking ballet for 2 years now for a cross-training in MED, and found out there was so much more to just *movement* that I love and might never have discovered with just belly dance.
Anyhow, my ballet instructor invited me to take this class called "Dance for all bodies and abilities" and I just want to gush about it.
It's a class that has all sorts of people in it, from special needs people with mental and physical disabilities, to some REALLY good modern/ballet/creative movement dancers. We do a lot of partnering with people who have a different ability than your own, with exercises that might include mirroring, flocking, etc... Or sometimes the instructor will have a guest come in and read a text, and let people just dance to it, or like yesterday one of the special needs students played the piano while we just danced and another student got to yell "stop" and "go" and we would all freeze. It sounds weird, I know, but the room is charged with such a positive energy, and these people are so wonderful. Sometimes we do just meditative exercises and I have felt so good I wanted to cry.
And to think, I might not have discovered how much I enjoyed movement if it wasn't for taking my first bd class...
Sorry if that was kind of off-topic, but I just wanted to share!