Article November 7, 2005 Issue

beyond dance

By Jillie Periton

as a small child I loved to dance. Ballet classes and exams filled all my free time. Schoolwork was not my prime interest. My parents and schoolteachers finally had to reverse my priorities.

Later on, other demands led me in new directions, and dancing didn't fit into my lifestyle. Also, for several years I wrestled with ill health, until I was healed through my study of Christian Science. But through all this, my love of dance stayed with me, and whenever I heard music, I mentally choreographed a dance, and twirled around the house.

One day, not long after I had been introduced to Christian Science, I poured out to a friend my need to express myself in dancing. He said, "Remember you can bring the dance into whatever you do." His comment made a deep impression on me. He then explained that the spiritual qualities of dance—such as gracefulness, poise, rhythm, balance, timing—were from God, and that I should not think that they could only be expressed through my particular talent for dancing. These qualities could be expressed even more broadly in a variety of activities. I would then discover other talents I didn't even know I had.