Ever feel overwhelmed by global news, too much work and a plethora of personal problems? Of course you do because the world is a mess!
Thankfully, there’s a way to handle it all. Dancing!
Faced with yet another bump on the road to Brexit, YouTuber Kelsey Ellison and illustrator Mahou Shounen took Theresa May’s resignation speech and vogued away the pain of yet more chaos clouding Britain’s political landscape. The result was glorious:
Me improvising to Theresa May’s resignation speech pic.twitter.com/LdXqO9QSqx
— Kelsey Ellison The dancing meme (@KelseyEllison) May 24, 2019
It’s not the first time dance has been used to enhance a job resignation. In 2013, Marina Shifrin found herself still in the office at 4:30 in the morning, feeling under-appreciated, so she danced her way through an “I QUIT!” video message to her boss. The video got the attention of the Queen Latifah Show and resulted in her being offered a new job.
The Theresa May vogueing video isn’t the first time this year that interpretive dance has been employed to make dreary information more palatable. A few weeks ago, Australian Parliamentary candidate Alex Dyson communicated his platform via a series of vigorous moves that demonstrated both his policy stances and his general level of enthusiasm for taking on the job. You might have felt the urge to throw a politician off a pier before now, but when was the last time you saw one do it to themselves voluntarily?
The only political spin you’ll get from me is a pirouette.#Vote1 Alex Dyson for #Wannon #auspol #AUSVote2019 pic.twitter.com/less6ZqwSf
— Alex Dyson (@AlexDyson) May 6, 2019
Truly, the dance-your-way-through-it mentality can be applied to literally anything. Since 2008, Science magazine’s Dance Your Ph.D. competition has been asking students to explain their research through movement as a way to make difficult subjects easier for lay people to absorb. In 2016, one winner explained heart surgery using people dangling off bridges, a dude dressed as a cow doing the worm and a bunch of hula hoop-based creativity.
The following year, Brazilian smartypants Natália Oliveira grabbed some flamboyant friends and successfully explained how biomolecules, transducers and signal molecules can work together to help crime scene forensics.
Of course, dance professionals have always used their artistry to communicate serious and complex issues, but when regular folks dance their way through dark times and hard subjects, it offers a supremely relatable way to process difficult information and inspiration on how to do the same. It’s proof that you don’t need lessons, formal training or even so much as a flashmob to make a point. So if you have something to get off your chest, let this be an inspiration to you. The news might be all doom and gloom, but the way you process it doesn’t have to be.
Copyright 2019 KQED