Dancing with Attraction VI

Though embarrassing to admit, my reactions in aikido corresponded to what I’d tried on the dance floor. To move aggressively towards this woman dancer could be likened fighting with an attacker and doing things my way regardless of what another wants. When I only stared, it was like freezing in aikido. As Marlboro Man, I wasn’t really present; who I knew myself to be fled in favor of playing a role. Putting on a smile to make flirt was no different from hoping that if I were a nice guy, I wouldn’t be attacked on the mat. In short, to the well-known reactions of fight and flight, I added freeze and flirt. If the experience of letting go in aikido was like “going with the flow,” we’ve got five F’s to choose from.
If flow offered such extraordinary results on the aikido mat, it must just as certainly offer similar results on the dance floor. The question was how to do that, especially if the only way I did it was by letting go. What does letting go look like on the dance floor? Add the fact that, in aikido class we learned how to center, ground, extend and blend, with each skill contributing to the ease with which students dropped into a flow state. Could flow be replicated on the dance floor without that kind of structure that a martial art offers? Instead of aggressively moving towards what I wanted, staring, playing Marlboro Man or Nice Guy, would something else happen with this dancing goddess if I let go and flowed with my attraction?
There was only one way to find out. Though I didn’t exactly know what that looked like on the dance floor, I resolved to experiment with letting go into flow.