Caucasian Chorea Compilation

Medicine and dance have always been intertwined like two tango partners. Since the drawn of medicine with the ancient greeks, diseases have been described by actions they may create. One such disease described by the greeks is "chorea", in which the victim uncontrollably performs dance like movements. Chorea is a sign of many organic brain diseases (as opposed to inorganic brain diseases which use pesticides and exploit farmers)such as Huntington's disease.




Once someone's brain is damaged so severely, the body becomes unable to control itself and random nerve firings trigger sometimes violent muscle jerks. When analyzed closely, these jerks can sometimes be patterned and actually resemble a dance-which is why "chorea" is the greek word for "dance". What I am trying to say is that every one of us has the capability to become a dancer-provided we suffer an inordinate amount of brain damage. This may be why alcoholics are often regarded as the finest dancers.

Therefore it should come as a surprise to no one that part of my medical mission was to honor my medical forefathers and show the Kenyans some of the hottest dance moves on the planet. While there Westerns that came to Kenya with the goal of treating a village for malaria, or help infants with HIV, but just as important as this is to teach children the pure joy that comes from learning a complex dance that reaches deep into your soul and dig through those years of oppression, hunger and death and rise to the surface the joy and harmony that can be expressed though dance. It was with this goal in mind that I chose to teach the children of Kenya the Stanky Legg.



Link to official video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0TpyCU6iv4

David and Helen, my two fellow medical missionaries I was living with, are far more skilled at dancing than I'll ever be. I remember one night David and I were both sitting at the dining table with our laptops out and listening to music. David's music selection on his computer was radically different than what I listen to-namely it was the dreaded "adult contemporary" music. David lets it slip that he still dances quite a bit and Helen asks for a sample. David puts on some Calypso music on through his tinny laptop speakers and they danced right there in the dining room. I'm not a dancing expert, but it looked pretty good and seemed to be a compilation of several white people dances: ballroom, latin, and square (only missing were the chicken dance, electric slide, and macarena).



After Helen and David danced for a while, they tried to get me involved as well. All the dances they had done pretty much were for 2 people so what could we do? Helen suggested doing some indian-esque dancing, David also having some slumdog millionaire sounding songs on his computer. Helen explained:

"To do Indian Dancing you need to lift one knee up and pretend you are going to high five it while keeping your upper body straight". Yes, that's all there is to Indian dancing. So the three got on the dining room dance floor, I handed the camera to Helen our housekeeper and we filmed this monstrosity-(remixed by DJ Vaggy!) The stupid hats were inspired by Helen-not alcohol.



Look for the follow up to Caucasian Chorea Compilation very soon where I show you what happens when you have cervical spinal cord dysfunction!


Not like he was going to raise you anyway...

Baba yangu alikufa ajalini

My dad died in the accident