What comes to mind when you think of dancing?

Blushing ballerinas?

Fred Astaire cutting rugs with Ginger Rogers?

Dancing Chihuahuas?

Far be it from me to criticize either mental image, but the truth is, dance has a long history of expressing qualities beyond joy and grace.

Dance is a triumph of the human spirit: a celebration, challenge, and rebellion all in one.

This crazy dance performance on the Fox television show, So You Think You Can Dance, truly captures the range of emotion and expression that can be executed by two people on a dance floor. Source: Youtube

So it is both fitting and poignant that in an personal story on Scope, Pamela Sloate, a prolific movement disorder activist, compared her struggles with dystonia to a long, often lonely dance:

“Seems I keep taking steps forward then back—ever shifting my center of gravity—while engaging in a never-ending battle over who assumes the lead.”

Sloate’s been doing this cha-cha since she was about eight years old, back when there was no dystonia community. That meant Sloate’s parents couldn’t flip open the phone book and find a metaphorical dance instructor for their daughter.

Sloate had to learn to dance, alone, with the world’s most uncooperative partner. Dystonia.

Yet, this self-taught dystonia damsel grew and flourished, and thanks in part to her parents, so too did the dystonia community.

Now, even with missteps, this activist refuses to dance in the dark.

This life-long dance keeps Sloate spinning, finding new perspectives and new rhythms.

She may not be a champion at the cha-cha, but she dances as proud as any prima ballerina.

Learn the intricacies of Pamela’s dance at her blog, or read about them here on Patient Worthy!

Cha-Cha Slide this beautiful connection between dance and Pamela’s dystonia to your social networks by clicking a button below. Yes, it’s one hell of a partner to deal with, but she reminds it who really is the lead.