Ambiance

This is (I think!) the last loose end which needs tying up. I haven't commented on the ambiance of dance yet, as I thought it had been scrapped from the assessment outline. Not so, so here goes :)

Before starting OT, when I thought of ambiance I thought of dim lights, background music, fancy restaurants and all that jazz. In part, it is, but it's bigger than this. Ambiance is defined as "a feeling or mood associated with a particular place, person, or thing". As OTs we get quite good at breaking things into parts - activity and task analysis requires us to break simple activities into the component parts. But I think it's important to understand ambiance - the feeling or atmosphere of the activity as a whole - so we don't focus so much on the piece of wood that we lose sight of the forest :-p

Dancing falls within the classification on play. Play is "often described as self-motivated or chosen, pleasurable, and important from a developmental perspective" (Christiansen & Townsend, 2010, p. 24). Play is primarily about relating to others, and how we establish ourselves in human society. I wrote a very cool essay last year on dramatic arts (poetry, performance and dancing) and how these and the notion of play fit within the umbrella of occupation and are therefore part of the essence of being human. I really enjoyed exploring what it is to be human, and how these are mediums to help fulfill this.

Dancing totally epitomizes the essence of play. When we went to the swing dance party the other week, play was  a very central theme. We got dressed up, which is always a good start  for a game don't you think? A group of about 7 of us went together, three in matching outfits :). While we learnt the basics, we rotated partners constantly. As friend 2 and I both knew what we were doing, we buddied up with some of the beginners. I learnt to be the lead, which was heeeeaps of fun! There was a lot of light hearted banter that went on as we introduced ourselves to new partners, apologised for our lack of skill and fumbled through the dances. Play is all about these social interactions, which were so, so important on the night. Another element of play was the anticipation and excitement of us all asking each other to dance. It's generally considered to be the man's job to ask, but because I learnt the lead and the number of follows grossly out weighed the number of leads, I felt like I played in character all night! I could be the perfect gentleman and ask the girls to dance. But when I got a bit sick of lead, I was so used to bending the rules I sought out the boys to ask them to dance. The shared experience of fun pretty much sums up play. Sweet!