At the end of last year, I received an amazing invitation: let's create a dance on the path that captures each season. Um.....YES!!! And, oh wait, a year-long commitment? I'm still in.
This is a path that we walked together once a week from late Spring into early Fall, to reach a destination that held us in embodied presence. This path showed us an explosion of growth and expansion in the Spring and Summer that had us doing some tricky moves to pass through. As dancers, we immediately saw the choreography of walking this path. In the Fall, we watched the path shift and change again....receding, pulling back. Going quiet.
We began in January 2021 by visiting the path once a week to meet it in this new way; to connect in deeper relationship to the path and the season. An early discovery was our differences that can be described by the contrast between structure and chaos. I'm always ready to allow myself to be moved and see what flows forth. My collaboration partner looks for the through line and the form. Both are important and valuable. Nature is organized chaos with structure and patterns. Nature is potential energy following cycles and seasons of bursting forth and letting go. Nature is a multiverse of interconnected relationships. I value both the growth and the composting.
We soon realized that what we could create had endless possibilities. Limitless. How to listen and follow? How to relax into just being present and allowing this to unfold.
So many layers of learning, experiencing and growing. We both are practicing quieting our inner critic voice. I am dusting off my rusty dance skills to lean choreography. I'm exploring new awareness and acceptance of my aging process.
Here is our first "rough draft", our process of let's fool around, capture it on video and see what it looks like. We are gradually letting go of culturally conditioned ideas around linear timeline and time pressure. That sure feels good!
And....it's not about the final product being "good" or seen by others. It's about the process and showing up, seeing ourselves, being with the Spirit of Place. It's about the power of creating and sharing. For me, I'm waking up the artist inside who has been quiet for so long.
What has been quiet in you that is yearning to wake up and become activated to create!? Embodied rebels are revolutionary artists who create for joy, for change, for shining light into the world, for resonating your authenticity into the world. For....(what are your reasons?)
The world needs your gifts!!
Rebecca