Before Christmas, I was listening to a podcast with Dr Chatergee and he used a term that hit me right in my soul. I think you’ll find it interesting…
The term is collective effervescence and it describes "a sort of electricity. An exhilaration - almost euphoria - that overtakes groups of people united by a common purpose pursuing an intensely involving activity together. The excitement of a group creates a force that lifts people up.”
And I SWEAR TO THE LORD OF THE DANCE, this is exactly how I feel when we throw our bodies around in the studio together each week.
We know collective effervescence.
It's the beating pulse in a festival crowd when you're all screaming the words to your favourite song together. It’s the satisfying synchrony you feel, pounding the pavement with a group of strangers on your Park Run. It’s the “exhilaration - almost euphoria" WE get when we unite on stage and NAIL a routine we’ve been building together for months!
It’s a contagious energy. And according to sociologists, we find our greatest bliss in moments of collective effervescence. Your opportunities to find it is hugely correlated with happiness and well-being. And for me, that RESONATES!
I know collective effervescence
Dancing with a group of people has guaranteed more consistent joy and mental peace in my life than anything else. And if I have a bit of a wobble, I’ve learnt that dancing will pull me ‘back home’ and resettle me every time. I noticed it in my early 20s when I did a lot of moving around, struggling to find regular dance classes. I was really missing something - I genuinely felt it in my chest. And since then I’ve known I have to dance in a group, regularly, to feel my best.
Learning about collective effervescence has added more meat to the bones in my understanding of what this dance school does. We exist to make good people feel great so they can do amazing things. And while I used to think it was magic, I now know it’s just science (I’m joking. I’M JOKING! Collective effervescence is CLEARLY scientific magic).
It is electricity. I’m so grateful it exists. And I’m so glad it’s something we get to experience every single week.
HERE’S TO LETTING OUR COLLECTIVE EFFERVESCENCE SOAR!
Angie xx