Define — Dance

DANCE: V. 1 TO MOVE WITH THE FEET OR BODY RHYTHMICALLY, ESP.
TO MUSIC.

That’s what Webster says.

By that definition, every one of us dances everyday, all day, nonstop.

We dance to the music of horns blaring and trucks roaring past with a sound that sends our hair skirt trousers and/or jacket fluttering – and when it’s too close for comfort, our hearts as well.

We dance to the sound of voices as the crowd talks, as they strut, walk, slouch, hurry, run, bob, weave, jog, skirt along to that intrinsic music of chatter and cell phones ringing.

Our fingers dance to the click of the mouse and the tap of the keys – the sound of the printer,
the scanner’s wheeze

We dance to the metallic sound of stirring, of wooden drawers slamming, of the stove flame fighting to kick in, of pans and pots rustling and clanging in time with the silverware as it thuds against the tabletop.

We dancers work so hard at something so natural ― Why? Because we have another definition of dance:

TO MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE SEEM EFFORTLESS.

And so we work to perfect the natural.

by Kathryn Peyer, Home Schooled, grade 11
(submitted by the Skokie Public Library Teen Poetry Contest for 2004)