Shall We Dance?

(Posted Mar 7, '08 11:16 AM)

I was at this birthday party. We were listening as the gentleman of Croon, Richard Poon (of course, plugging) belted the classics. During the last part of the set, Richard sang “Put Your Head On My Shoulder”. Then as if by choreography, a politician who was at the party danced with his wife. Soon many followed. A son danced with his mom. Another guy danced with his office crush while best friends paired to compensate for the absence of “Mr. or Ms. Right”.

In the movie, “My Big Love”, during the last scene when Toni admitted at last (after a long, strenuous chase at the overpass) she loves Sam, they capped the event with Sam dancing his signature moves with the roaring crowd behind them.

During a soiree in a prominent subdivision which was attended by rich and retired matrons, I noticed the crowd was mostly indifferent and snobbish. Yet when the big band music filled the ballroom, dance instructors suddenly appeared in “Transformer” fashion to assist some of the snobby matrons who rose from the grave to dance… Ironically (almost hilariously), even though their hips swayed to the sound of the drums, their faces remained as cold as ice.

When my Dad came back from the states for the first time, my Uncle gave him a party. Although my mom and dad were long separated by that time, my mom attended the party for old time’s sake. With alcohol breaking his emotional inhibitions and tears verging from his eyes, My Dad took my Mom for a dance (or at least that’s what it looks like). The love, the regret, the years of abandonment, the wrong decisions, the apologies and the thoughts of what could have been were all encapsulated in that dance. It was a dance that came too late yet was worth dancing. A dance which I believed brought closure to something that was deprived of it.

During the Every Nation World Conference inside Araneta Center, you can see hundreds upon hundreds of people from all places dancing and jumping for God… The sight of different movements was spectacular and overwhelming… We even managed to have our own choreography in the midst of the praise and worship madness… As if our dance steps matter to God… because deep inside we know… deep inside I know…

It does.