3 Ways How Society Makes Us Feel Lost — And How Dance Can Reconnect Us — LSL Dance Co
By: Lost Spirit Lounge Dance Co
Tags: Society, Performing Arts, Dance, Lonely, Lost

2. We’re Alienated from People

The human brain was built intimate contact with each other, this is how we’ve survived as a species against the elements and dangerous animals.

You can see the craving for relationships in the rise of ‘Social’ media, a place for social interaction in the palm of our (smartphone) hands. Social media is becoming toxic to the youngest generation z and addiction is becoming prevalent.

Without natural counseling, advice and emotional interaction between humans, our mental and physical health is being affected.

Recent studies in 2019 have shown that depression in children is on the rise.

3. We’re Alienated from our Work

We’re alienated from our work. A lot of people in modern societies have successful careers in finance, banking, law, retail and get paid a good salary. However, these jobs also have no meaning to them personally.

Most people do work which they are told to do in order to get paid and escape their work periodically on their holiday break. They buy a car or a house because they’re told to do so by their parents who did the same because they were told by their parents. Is that all there is to life? To work to go on working?

Many industries take advantage of people’s devoid of purpose and they sell us substitutes for our lost purpose. We get hung up on how we look and how we come across to other people.

4. We’re Alienated from Ourselves.

We’re alienated from ourselves, our intuition our innate gut feeling. Women tend to be strongest with a gut feeling, Ever met a woman who didn’t know her man was lying about something?

As babies are intuition is at its strongest, we know what we want and aren’t shy to express it. Do you know any babies that bare their hunger until they’ve left the post office with mum?

At some point in growing up, we learned to shut down our intuition and value logic in all things. Though feelings are the part of us that’s kept us safe as a human animal, when we ‘felt’ the dodgy intentions of a new person in a small group, we kept an eye on them. Or when a mother feels a little too quiet in the other room where her children are, she knows they’re up to no good.

However, at work, it’s unlikely that you would get fired the unsuccessful launch of a new product if you have made a logical decision (stats and numbers) in opposed to following your gut instinct after talking with a few previous customers.

Our brains are naturally wired for empathy and we care for the people around us even if we don’t know them. At a London tube station, I once witnessed a lady trip on her heels and stumble towards the edge of the platform. Instantly 4 to 5 people (including myself) instinctively extended our hands to grasp her, however, she regained her balance and walked on.

Nobody thought about what they were doing, it just happened. The emotional processing part of our brains moved our bodies unconsciously through our empathetic filter, we imagined her pain and wanted to prevent it. This is why watching the news can be very stressful for us, even though we don’t know any of the people on the screen.

See Dr. Gabor Maté 5 minute speech on feeling Lost.

4 Points to How Dance Can Help Us to Not Feel So Lost

So how can dance help us to not feel so lost in our society which is increasingly shutting down our innate human spirit? We’ve highlighted 7 benefits that’ll reconnect you.

1. Dance is an Organic Experience

When you dance, you’re totally in the moment. Being present in the moment is beneficial because we’re so often thinking of things in the past or in the future which stresses us out and causes anxiety.

When you’re focused on the sound of music, the meaning of the lyrics and timing your body to the beat, we have no time to think about anything else. We’re totally there with Bruno Mars and our getting down and funky movements.

2. We’re Exercising

Dance is often vigorous and requires us to exert ourselves. When our heart rate is increased our brains release dopamine our happy chemical which increases our good mood and general well being.

3. We’re together with people

Dancing is often done together, at a party, a dance class, on stage. It brings a sense of comradery that we’re seeking in everyday life, to act together in common interest.

Whether in choreography or dancing with a partner, because we’re united are brains release Oxytocin the fulfillment chemical, which leads to the feeling of completion that we seek validation from other people and things.

4. Dancing with people builds a tribal sense

The acknowledgment that we’re dancing with other people and sharing the experience of music and good times brings us closer together.

Just like soldiers on a battlefield who see the people next to them as brothers in arms who are sharing the same experience, dance can unify people as a tribe.

If you look back in history, many tribes danced around a fire or a maple pole at times of celebration. Was it the tribe that united to dance or the dance that united the tribe?

5. Creativity and Self Expression

During freestyle and choreographed dance, we’re self-expressing our creativity. Humans are creative beings, we think things into reality and everything around us was once someone’s thought.

We crave to express and create and dance is a perfect way to manifest our expression at the moment.

This philosophy is taught in Interpretive Style Dance, where dancers are told to create any movement that they ‘feel’ from the music that they hear. Nothing is planned or thought, it’s an organic, natural, feeling experience.

The Lost Spirit Lounge Dance Company was founded on the idea of reconnecting us through dance, to bring people together and spread awareness through this means of creativity.

We’ll share with you places where you can start or continue your dance journey with reconnecting yourself in mind:

Here’s 5 London Dance Studios that you can walk in and take a class

(In no Ranking Order)