What is a Happy Dance?

I love happy dances. Spontaneous bursts of joyous celebration. I have observed my own and other peoples happy dances for years and noticed several things that seem to hold true about happy dances.

1, Many people are completely unaware of their own happy dances. Or fail to recognize them for what they are. (I admit it is possible they do notice and just don’t find it the slightest bit interesting, but my experience is that most people don’t BOTHER to notice). Happy dances differ from person to person.

2, Happy dances can be big or small, solitary or group oriented. They can and do happen anywhere and everywhere.

3, Most happy dances last only a few brief seconds, but some can be expanded into several minutes of celebratory joyousness. Whether it’s a leap in the air and a click of the heels, or boogeying down to the funk fantastic. Be it a quick shrug with a fleeting smile and a wink, or a cartwheel on the walk home, Happy dances erupt from all of humanity except the deeply depressed. Even just a prolonged eye contact and wriggly eyebrows can be a minute happy dance of sorts, in the midst of a crowded restaurant, or from a hospital bed.

4, You cannot fake a happy dance, not even your own. Even if one becomes aware of what their particular happy dance is, and recreates the timing and movements of the joyous little jig, it loses the essence, the spontaneity that elevates a true happy dance to the tangible expression of contagious bliss.

5, Most people have more than one happy dance for different kinds of occasions and environments. For example the happy dance one does on the field after a particularly well executed sports play, may be very different from the happy dance the same person does in the board room when their idea is chosen for special recognition. This will be different again, from the happy dance at the conclusion of a very successful first date, or finding out that your crush likes you back.

6, Happy Dances often change over time. Although the elements may remain the same, your Happy Dance may change to incorporate new moves as you become more or less self conscious, gain better balance, or stiffen with age or injury.

7, Dancing in general makes many people feel happy due to the endorphin release and feeling of letting go. Some people dance to become happy, or become happy from dancing. In some cultures dance is considered a form of prayer. This is GREAT, but not what I mean when I talk about happy dances.

Now we come to the dilemma. If true happy dances are spontaneous and cannot be contrived, then how do we capture, observe and study them? It would seem I have to be around a lot of people that are having festive things unfold in their lives large and small. I can’t just go around constantly filming people and HOPE I capture something usable and authentic. I would miss so much while locked away in the editing room, and defeat the point of being there. I have a few other ideas, but let’s explore some things first.

While visiting my sister the other day she handed me this little book; “Where The Hell Is Matt”? It is all about this guy, Matt who is happily dancing around the world, and getting paid by his sponsor to do it. What!? No joke. He is traveling the world doing this little, silly, simple dance, obviously having a great time, and getting paid to do it. In some of the later stages of the video he gets people in many diverse cultures to do the little dance with him. Perhaps it is not spontaneous, but it is joyous, and very happy.





In one of my favorite Indian Bolliwood productions, “Lagaan”, the villagers dance for spontaneous joy numerous times during the movie. Many of these are choreographed dances, but it creates a lot of joy to watch. When watching dance, or sports or gymnastics and being totally absorbed, the mind sort of shuts down and we are suspended for a moment in silence, connected for that instant to the infinite. The ego mind shuts off and joy can come flooding in, as we are totally present in the moment of NOW.

I like to dance in my kitchen and the kitchens of close friends. It may be spontaneous, but there is usually music, and I am just grooving. Although this is a joy filled activity, and allows me to express my mood in the moment, it is not quite the same as my Happy Dance. We go dancing to have fun. We dance around in expressions of joy and happiness, or sharing a private moment with a lover, and we happy dance because it cannot be contained and we have no conscious intent to do it at all. It just happens, and by the time we notice, it’s done.

Another video I found that inspires me is the train station dance. Obviously planned and implemented by key performers this seemingly spontaneous action invited participation from passersby. In my mind it’s as if it bridged the gap between dancing for joy, and dancing from joy. This may be a small piece of insight into the Happy Dance phenomenon.