Dance

Dance puts me in a place of awe.

I started taking dance in college – ok, besides taking gymnastics as a kid, & doing “kick-lines” wearing “saddle shoes” to “Celebrate Good Times – C’mon!” on the pom-pon squad in high school…

But – dance, proper dance…I started at the University of Oregon.  And, if I would’ve had any more time out of architecture school, I would’ve at least minored in it.

I took it all, but ended up pursuing modern, because it was the most abstract/loose/conceptual/expressive, & it resonated with me the most.  I had a couple teachers that I resonated with in fact so much, that in the past 10 years, I haven’t found anything like it/them.

I didn’t move, per se, like the other dancers.

I hadn’t grown up in ballet.  I couldn’t necessarily remember the choreography after the first 30 seconds of subtle explanation.  I learned to (& continue to learn to) dance like I learned to drive a stickshift.  CLUNKY.  It’s clunky, because I don’t operate in a “1,2,3” form.  I fumble until it clicks.  Then, it’s so gutteral, it Moves me; & I love it!  I Love being in that space.

I Love singing.  I Love dancing.  I love making the gesture I know I need to make…This overwhelming need to come in sync with the giant gesture I feel I am so often trying to make…

Dancing is the portal!  (for me)…

Movement is the portal!

(Sorry – I think I’m having a bit of a personal moment/epiphone!)…

Dance (as medium) helps transfer ourselves back to ourselves, as it is so easy to “get lost” in the “crowd”…

It is like being “in a sanctuary”, even if that dance is in the middle of the streets of Chicago, the bathrooms of the Berlin subway, or in your own living room…

I’m trying to describe this “space” one gets into…this Deep, gutteral connection, which is I think the best “space” to be in on earth…

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Ok – I just watched Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk, & I have to admit – it made me cry!

She’s talking about those moments where you feel so in sync with your creativity – with yourself maybe?  with your authentic self, in the medium of (whatever that may be!)…where in that MOMENT, you’ve let “the genius, the muse, the Greater Spirit/Being” come in & move you, to the point where you’re literally letting it move You…to the point where you feel so incredibly embodied, but your feet are moving without any concious effort on your part.  Your fingers are madly dancing across the keyboard, & you kind of watch yourself in a bit of awe, while at the same time feeling completely grounded.

It’s the technicalities sinking deeper – getting lost, & the Fire taking over…

Yet, powerful as it is, it is a deeply calm space.

An empowered space.

A humbly sweet & beautiful space.

A healing space.

A gorgeous space.

Thanks for the mystery.

Thanks for the dance.

“If your job is to dance, do your dance”

– Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love.