"Heart" x "Dance" x "Society"

The theme this time is "dance."

It may still be fresh in our memory that breakdancer was selected as an event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and a female breakdancer won a gold medal.

In 2012, "dance" was included in the junior high school curriculum guidelines.

So what is the social role of "dance"? The truth behind this is very interesting. Let's unravel it together!

Last time

When we think about problems of the "mind," we cannot do so without considering "society." This is because we live in "society" while facing various problems, such as interpersonal relationships, work styles, nursing care issues, and child rearing. These problems arise within the social system, and our "minds" are in conflict and suffer due to the system's underdeveloped structure and function issues and the human relationships involved.

The current situation is that although it is often given the name "harassment," no solutions are being put in place and it is simply dismissed as a matter of personal responsibility.

I'm sure all of you have at least once felt like you wished things could have been done a little better.

Furthermore, even if they receive mental care and counseling and find momentary relief, if they are thrown back into an "unsatisfactory social function," is this simply care for the sake of maintaining this society? Isn't this care not one that takes into account the mental health of the individual? I think so.

And the purpose of NPOs is to respond professionally to "social functions that are not yet fully fulfilled." This is what I have said about their raison d'être.

Well, the role of "dance" in modern society is largely in the cultural aspect of entertainment, but what I want you to know is that "dance" is consistently ranked number one in the evidence-based category of dementia prevention!

We've covered this topic in the text and podcast on our members' site, so be sure to check it out! This time, we'll be digging deeper into "dance" from a slightly different angle.

There is no nation in the world that does not have "dance"

I intuitively believe that dance is a form of prayer. Many people know that the Australian rugby team, the All Blacks, perform a dance to intimidate their opponents before a match in order to pray for victory, but how did this form of expression come about?

"death"

Our ancestors evolved as hunter-gatherers and then as settled agricultural people. The biggest difference between these two activities is how we deal with death.

Hunters could move when there was no prey, and flee when danger approached, and could leave the "death" of humans behind. In those days, people had magic and dance. They danced impulsively in response to the emotions of the time.

Why do people dance?

We will find the answer later, but first let's look at their activities as an evolved agricultural people.

Because agricultural people settle there, they are no longer able to move around as hunting people.

This means that food must be produced on the spot. And that death must be acknowledged. It was frightening to continue to watch the decay of death. People deal with death through rituals such as burial and cremation.

Farming also gave birth to basic rules of cooperation, such as working together from sowing to harvesting.Furthermore, rules for preserving the harvest, rules for distribution, rules for inheritance and disputes over them, and so on.Power relations intervened in these collaborative efforts, and they became covered by words and laws.

The evolution of the human species into an agricultural people, whose goal was to improve the survival rate of the species, was plagued by calculations of profit and loss, just like today's cerebral society.

"festival"

In the days of hunting tribes, when there was no language, laws, or calculations of profit and loss, festivals did not exist.

Festivals were born in the era of agricultural peoples to regain the power of those times and to confront the fear of death. The impulsive dance of the hunter-gatherer and festivals evolved into a dance of prayer called "co-movement" through "co-operation."

"Death" and "Life"

"Nothingness" and "Movement"

Why do people dance?

Moving the body is the flip side of "death" and the act of "dancing" is the polar opposite of "life".

In opposition to the fear of disease, infectious diseases, disasters, and other things that promote death, people impulsively moved their bodies and prayed as a form of extreme "life."

This is the answer to the question, "Why do people dance?"

In battle, we are prepared to die. On the other hand, the Australian rugby team, the All Blacks, represent the extreme opposite of life, and use a metaphorical prayer from their ancestors to convey their determination to "come to battle prepared to die."

The extreme movement of life in contrast to the nothingness of death - that is the prayer known as dance.

There is no nation in the world that does not have "death"

Therefore, there is no ethnic group without dance.

What is the role of dance today?

As mentioned above, communities were born during the agricultural era. Communities eventually gave birth to language, laws, and calculations of profit and loss, but they also gave birth to the basic rule of "helping each other."

In modern society, the community of dance evokes a feeling from the past that "we can help each other."

In today's complex and intricate society, people tend to give up on the idea of helping each other, but dance is the only simulated experience that can make us reconsider the idea and think that it might be possible.

"sound"

"Sound" rhythm is essential for dancing. Our brains have a "beat prediction function" that predicts tempo and rhythm. This predictive function of knowing what the next tempo and rhythm will be stimulates the pleasure system of the brain and activates the medial prefrontal cortex through the motor cortex.

*The functions of the medial prefrontal cortex are speech, judgment, and planning.

"Sound" raises your heart rate and makes your "heart" leap

"Sound" and "dance" activate the brain and establish the "self"

The great joy of "community" discovered through farming

Sharing the experience of "dance" in the modern age

It evokes the "bonds of the group" and is fascinating.

Shall we dance?