Allow me to contextualize these captured moments in time.
Local poet Jim Moreno holds an amazing, monthly open mic night that is an all-ages and all-inclusive event for a diverse group of local San Diego artists, activists and families. On October 27, 2011, Jim invited me to dance to one of his spoken word pieces at the SpaceBar in La Mesa, which is a wonderfully comfy and cozy gathering space.
Although Jim did send me his poem ahead of time and I did skim through it, I did not "practice" to the piece nor choreograph any set movements, or movement patterns. I didn't want to be familiar with his poem - which is a flowing current of words that attest to what dance can look like and was inspired by the gorgeous dancing of a woman who once lit up stages all over San Diego with her inimitable grace and flowing lines. However, I didn't want to "understand" its flow, words or thoughts. Rather, I wanted to just present my Self to the moment - by listening to what it had to say and by offering forth a ME that is both improvisational and of this now as well as trained, conditioned, practiced and polished.
After all, Dance is, more than anything, Relationship.
It
is how we relate ~ in any given moment.
On this evening, my "style" was
simply to offer ME - like Jim offers his Self with his words, like Jillian
offers herself w/ her dancing (which initially inspired Jim's prose) and like
Nana offers his Self with his drumming.
My "style" is to show up as ME, to try and
relate to Jim and his words, to the floor, to the camera, to the
audience, to Nana and the drum, to the lighting, and to my Self in that given moment - even with the tidal wave of all of that information flooding into my BodyMind SoulSpirit.
We all dance our
own dances -
in every moment and in light of all of the stimulation and seemingly, swirling chaos that can orbit around US.
(The question then becomes can we be a Dancing Buddha in these moments?
Can we be a twirling Rumi? A stern Lao Tzu and a wandering Confucius?
Can we be a gentle Mother Teresa and a focused Harriet Tubman?
Can we be a compassionate Lady Di and an adventurous Angelina Jolie?)
The words Jim is speaking are a dance in and of themselves and don't
need to be simply mimicked or copied by accompaniment, whether that be on
the drum or in the dance.
We can give life to our
artistic Co-Creations by embodying this moment, now, and by honoring
that it will never come again.
An Art that, like LIFE, lives, breathes and dies.
