Discover Kindness through Creative Dance

Have you ever thought about how your loved ones would characterize you? What are your main qualities, values, virtues or the way you have influenced someone\’s life in a positive way? The kindness we show to ourselves or to those around us defines our character and brings a little clarity to the perception of others about our person.

All people are essentially good, but due to the experiences they go through throughout their lives, kindness can manifest in various forms. Creative dance helps you to (re-) discover your hidden or long-forgotten qualities or emotional blockages, and gives you the means to overcome them and become a more balanced and focused person.

Help others without expecting an immediate reward

Kindness is seen as an interpersonal quality and you often need courage to express it. It is not easy to be a good person when the environment is unfavorable, such as a toxic job or an interaction with people whose values are diametrically opposed ​​to yours.

A person who possesses this quality is often described as friendly, generous, or caring towards others. Kindness is also associated with affection, because when you want to help someone without expecting a reward, it means that you have performed an altruistic act and show maturity towards other people.

Kindness can manifest itself both to yourself and to others.

What does it mean to be kind to yourself? The most important person in your life is you, and this is reflected in the way you take care of yourself. If you manage to accept yourself and love yourself as you are, then we can say that you express kindness towards yourself.

When it comes to others, kindness means enjoying the success of others without feeling jealous, helping a neighbor or friend, or considering the feelings of others in your actions. It’s well known that you can\’t control the reactions of those around you, but you can manage your emotions. The way you choose to behave with the people you meet can influence the way you feel.

People who perform acts of kindness or are surrounded by empathetic people are happier. Whether or not you know the person you want to help, studies show that people who have cultivated the ability to be selfless and empathetic to their loved ones and beyond feel happier.

How can we express kindness through creative dance

Dance to Unite is a non-governmental association that teaches children about kindness through creative dance. The organization makes a clear distinction about creative dance sessions: memorizing dance steps is not the main goal, but rather a tool through which children learn how the concept of kindness helps them in life.

The dance sessions begin with a Circle Talk session, the first part of the learning program, in which teachers and students have the opportunity to get to know each other better and discuss their virtues, values ​​and qualities, as well as their motivation to join such an initiative. Facilitators guide children in exploring core values ​​such as empathy, acceptance, or compassion.

Next, the dance sessions are the catalyst for a rapprochement between the students, and the aim is to translate what the children expressed verbally during the Circle Talk sessions into a non-verbal language. They then explore some hidden parts of each child‘s character; parts that they could not express in words, but which nonetheless deserve to be highlighted.

Fluid movements, rhythm, breathing exercises and facilitator guidance help children learn what kindness means and how to apply it. If you start shaping children\’s minds from an early age, there is a better chance that as adults they become empathetic and eager to change the world around them.

Global Kindness

Dance for Kindness is a global initiative that involves overcoming physical, racial, cultural or religious boundaries in order to promote kindness worldwide. Sorina, TMoves’ Founder, participated in this initiative for 3 years in a row, together with Verita Foundation and Verita International School, teaching this choreography and helping parents and children to learn the kindness dance.

Facilitators or dance teachers want to popularize values ​​and virtues such as kindness, courage or affection among the participants. The ultimate goal of this action is to identify a common language for expressing feelings and to teach participants how to help the world around them especially through dance and art forms, starting from their own deeds, no matter how small they are.

Dance therapy is a form of therapy that helps people get to know each other better and make changes through non-verbal language with an impact on emotional, mental or spiritual life. Beneficial for mind, emotions, body and spirit, creative dance and dance therapy reduce stress and provide a safe space for self-knowledge.

Dance-therapy practiced by Sorina, TMoves’ Founder, applies the Ways of Seeing method from New York, which brings together techniques from contemporary dance, improvisation, mirroring, meditation, mindfulness, drawing or storytelling. The therapist guides the students in a journey of knowledge and self-discovery, an essential journey for each person. The impact of these sessions can be observed by the student both in his own life and in the interaction with the family and the socio-educational environments. Kindness is one of the values ​​that underlie the human being, but practicing it as a natural thing is not easy to achieve.

Dance therapy and creative dance aims to be a link between the person and the (re-) discovery of their own identity, guiding them to find the dance of life, without subjecting it to external pressure, value judgments or constraints of any kind.