Looking for Legs
/My mom started taking a cocktail of medications for nerve pain in her lower back a few months ago. Because of the mix of meds she's on, she's hallucinating now and then.
She’s clear and bright eyed when she re-counts her latest sighting:
~ Looking out her window -- where big machines are moving around all day building new houses as fast as they can -- she sees a field of wild horses, running.
~ An old friend appears at the foot of her bed one morning, and they talk for hours about their lives, revealing secrets to each other that have never been spoken before.
~ She says I was there one night, and that I turned myself inside out.
~ She tells my nephew about the person living in the ceiling…she can’t recall much about him, except that his name starts with a T.
~ Friends from work, junior high, and college, visit regularly.
~ Family members, dead and alive, come over for a picnic.
~ Pets form our childhood return, and she sets out a bowl of water for them.
I taught a dance workshop for the Leadership Fellows at The Boulder Chamber of Commerce a few weeks ago. At the end of our time together, one of the women said:
“The negative space…that’s where all the potential is, isn't it? That’s where possibility thrives.”
My mother’s hallucinations = possibility in the in-between.
And Merce Cunningham said:
"Light or luminosity is created by the way elements are juxtaposed. They become reflective and a radiance comes from putting different things together."
Juxtaposing images and memories, my mother talks to the ghosts, and she is radiant.
Your dance mission for the week is to notice your breath, right now and throughout the day, to feel the floor beneath your feet, right now and throughout the day, while looking for the legs.
Find your own legs, right now. Feel them, sense them, breath into the bones of them.
Step away from your computer for 3 minutes, and dance, letting your legs lead the way.
With Warmth, Joanna of Joanna and The Agitators sweetly agitating/persistently upending www.joannaandtheagitators.com
PS:
1. SUMMER DANCE CLASSES:
The summer session starts on Tuesday, June 6th and runs through Thursday, August 31st...will I see you there?
"I feel free." -- Linda Stonerock, Current Student of 13 years
"I walk in the world differently because of this class." -- Nancy Ruff, Current Student of 4 months
“It’s always awesome, but today was extra awesome.” — Lucy Braham, Current Student of two years
"I love what you said yesterday about not taking it for granted, this incredible richness of dancing on a Tuesday morning. I'm counting my blessings right now and dancing with you twice a week is way way way up there in my cup." -- Aileen Hayden, Current Student 3 years
2. DOG DANCE, Performance and Workshop:
Performance: Friday, May 19th, 7pm at Floorspace, $10.
Workshop: Saturday, May 20th, 1-4pm, Boulder Circus Center $69 (includes ticket to performance on Friday night). There is limited space in this workshop. so if you are interested in attending, let me know ASAP so I can hold a spot for you.
“The generosity of Dog Dance is invaluable." Audience member at February's performance
"Stunning. Just Stunning." -- Freddi Acora, Audience member at Current Student.
"(The workshop) was wonderful. I couldn't say why... because it is just too potent for me. I'm not sure I have words for it still, but they are coming....been dog dancing every day since... so rich." -- Abi Averitt, participant in Learning Dog Dance and Audience Member
“I was SO craving class after your STUNNING performance of Dog Dance last night” — Simone Key, current student of five years, participant in Learning Dog Dance, and audience member.
xoxo