Dancing y el arte

While watching the "Where the Hell is Matt?" video, I felt inspired and excited. Personally, I love to travel, too meet new people, and to learn about other cultures. What better way than to do this than by dancing and having fun? Seeing all of those different people going out and having a good time, regardless of whether or not they looked like fools, made me smile. The children and old people that danced were my favorites. They seemed so happy.

During the video I was struck by the commonality between all people on earth - from tribes in Papua New Guinea, to middle-class Americans from San Francisco; everyone looked joyous while dancing.  Although some of the styles were different, the evidence of the strong emotional effect that the dancing had on each person was strong. I believe that is why "the arts" are so culturally universal. All of the components of art (theater, music, dance, visual arts, etc.) tend to have immense effects on peoples' emotional well-being. Art can make people happy, sad, scared, surprised, and it can even help them deal with grief, among other things. From what I have witnessed, people seem to enjoy art because of this strong emotional connection that it invokes.  This ties in with other cultural aspects. Since culture is shared between many people in a group, art is one of the outlets through which people can share ideas, beliefs, and emotions with others in society. Because of art, different cultures can be identified by looking at their specific styles of art and/or art forms. Art helps to bind people together - both culturally, and universally.