Dancing with Cats

“We will probably never know for sure why cats dance with us” – this ruminative question has most likely crossed very few minds apart from those of the small and relatively unknown community of cat dancers. Tapping into the physic energy of cats to dance with them may seem to defy belief, but if Burton Silver and Heather Busch’s book ‘Dancing with Cats’ is anything to go by, then there are certainly believers out there.

It’s impossible to miss the extraordinary abilities of cats throughout the world. They are one of the most prolifically featured animals on the internet, but never before have they been seen like this. Leaping and pirouetting alongside their human collaborators, not only is the act of dancing lovely to behold, but also restorative for the soul and body of the participants. One cat dancer Enid explains how she uses her pet Elgar’s healing powers to sort out her physical ailments, via her underwear, “I sneak them under Elgar once he’s asleep at night, and when I put them on in the morning, I feel a whole lot more supple and active in the hip department.” As unorthodox as this might seem, the power of cats is made prevalent throughout the book.

"A beautiful form of expression for those people who really want to connect with their cats"

Inspired by their own cats’ grace and elegance, photographer Heather Bausch has captured the intense similarity between the dancing partners. This isn’t an art to be taken lightly, it’s a very finely tuned practice that might look unusual to the unfamiliar, but is a beautiful form of expression for those people who really want to connect with their cats.

An uplifting and informative insight into the world of cat dancing, there hasn’t been a more hilarious use of cat-based Photoshop to date.

Text by Rosie Neve