Blog #1 why I love dancing.

Welcome to the blog.

I can’t take it anymore, can I tell you about my inquiries and discoveries in relation to the body, mind and spirit blah blah? I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I want to share in hopes to inspire your inquiry into dance/movement as a vehicle of expression, understanding and healing. And not just dance, but the whole health of the body in relation to mind and spirit. This is not new, this is just a sharing of a path. It’ll be ramblings in ah-has about the body, the mind, the stories, the emotions, how dance/movement can set you free, can wake you up, things I have discovered and am still discovering through paying attention to how all the inside and outside experiences intermingle and what moving your body has to do with it all. I’ll offer exercises you can try on the dance floor, your living room floor, or your office chair to see what insights you gain. This body is an incredible machine, but its more than moving fluids and neural firings. And its damn important to our health and happiness. So let’s explore and use it.

I am a dancer. I like to dance. It makes me happy, it makes me feel excited to be me. My body feels clear of stress and emotional achiness. It feels like the stagnation clears. My mind gets a rest from perseverating and I get an answer from my intuition, or see things from a different perspective. I need space to dance, I need to play my music loud, I need to dance for at least one hour. Like any meditation the first 10-15 minutes is just rehashing the day, feeling tired, trying to talk myself out of dancing, thinking of other things I could be doing, its the time to settle in.

Then I’m in. Once I’m in I feel energized, it’s like a whole bunch of energy was stored in there, hiding, where does it come from? How can I jump and run as if I wasn’t just complaining about being tired? Then all sorts of emotions start to surface, like cleaning them out. Maybe pent up aggression, different things I’ve been holding onto, trying to work through. Dancing becomes like a detox of these emotions. And the stories, some stories that come up have to do with day to day struggles, fears, ideas, and others from movies or books, and even more stories from places I’m not sure where from.

Here’s an example: I discovered that some of the stories are dancing the things I wanted to be when I grew up. I always wanted to do martial arts, and I watch a lot of kung fu movies and anime, and when I dance, I often become a samurai and a tai chi master. I always wanted to be an astronaut, and so I consider that my interest in precision, alignment, discovery in the way of dance/movement may have to do with this. Oh and I always wanted to dance for Janet Jackson, MJ was a hero to me, and when I dance I become a solid gold dancer. I feel confident, sexy, and locked into the rhythm in the music. So then I’m wondering, what did you want to be when you grew up, and how does it manifest in your life today? Where is it hiding in how you live your life, how you work with others, what you do in your just for you time?

Dancing is deep, intensely personal, it’s also communal, joyful to be around others also working it out, using their body as a vehicle of expression. Dancing is educational of my inner journey and how I function in this outside world. Dancing connects me to music, rhythm and flow, which connects me to our roots, our histories, to the innate (inborne) medicinal magic of being the art driven soul creators. Did I just go to far off the deep end?

Thing is, you gotta do it a lot. We all know the daily practice is where we really see the ah-has. And not just for that moment, it’s in the consistency to show up on the dance floor, whether in your living room or in the studio where it starts really affecting us, affecting change. What do we want? To live in who we are, to follow our soul’s mission, to be happy, healthy? We are constantly reminded that suffering doesn’t end, illness and death still arise and take us away, people will still annoy us on some level, we will disagree with those we love….but in the waking up to whatever it is you wanna call it, we handle it all much better. We freak out less, we are less ruled and controlled by these fluctuations. That’s freedom. There’s freedom in the devil card in the Tarot, the key that unlocks those loose chains around your neck, it’s been in your hand the whole time. That hummingbird flying around freely in the Eight of Swords card is showing you that the way out of suffering is in your change of perspective. Don’t just think its a good idea, do it, don’t just smell the flower, be the flower. Just dance to the music and let it all unfold, refold, sparkle and shine.

Dancing is this.

LuLa and LuLa Lights Out at the Tannery\nI offer space on sunday nights for you to dance. Remember making mixtapes? Its like that but without the tape. First half hour guest playlist from one of the participants, last hour I play my favorites, mostly hip hop and electronic but wherever it goes it’s danceable. I turn off the lights and light some fake candles, my partner Trey Donovan sets up the massive speakers and we dance on our own in Studio B at the Tannery World Music and Cultural Center (TWDCC). I need a space to dance, to play my music loud, to work it out in a consistent weekly manner, and if you do too, this is the place for you. Once a month Trey and I host LuLa (Lunar Landing), this is a two hour movement experience with live electronic music with various musicians including Trey. The first half hour is a guided warm up, Trey and I teach from our backgrounds in dance, yoga, meditation, sharing exercises that hopefully seem useful to the freeform dance session that is to follow. Verbalizing and experimenting with somatic and creative practices that help us be more in tune with our dancing body and its relation to everything else.