Footprints 2015

Last night at ADF, the students performed in three pieces.  Simply fabulous!   During the last performance, people were screaming their approval.  I'm so impressed with student performers.

Planning to go again tonight.

Big Red, Part Two

"Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah,
someone's in the kitchen I know..."

Circling continues
movement flows
Many smiles.

"Are you doing ok"?

For now, a respite
before transitioning to lily pads
with  feet spiraling
legs unfolding
moving, living, breathing!

Yes, thank you!

"You had homework from yesterday
Are you ready?"

the homework to me
like a warm up for a recital at Carnegie Hall.
Go ahead, take my breath away!

Josephine agrees.  She was a dancer.
Moved here from Berkeley last year.
We know
this is spectacular.
To be here witnessing
is very very special indeed.

Gerri Houlihan
was born to dance
shares the joy
shares the love
the passion.

"Can you believe I get paid to do this?"

Andy's voice comes through a cloud
transforms the space
I am speechless --
thrilled
Thank you, Andy Hasenpflug
from Slippery Rock
so good to see you again.

The student A.J,
speaks with me
studied Limon technique at VCU
I shall send him this poem.

Wishing Sarah could be here
to share in the tableau.

It is true.  Dance is life itself.
Woman with a braid spreads her
arms
embraces the space
spins effortlessly     glides
this is joyful
this is spiritual

The Daughter of Dance comes forward
to demonstrate
rounde de jambe
plié   plié
a Vizcaya moment

all shimmery and golden

A Morning With Big Red

"That looks great, Maggie!"

I'm thinking I should be in Paris listening to this
instead of the Ark.
Parisian jazz, yeah!  Grace in action
catches our satisfaction.
Forty bodies in unison.

"Energy right up through your spine
and off the top of your head."

Listening, watching, swaying
my body to the music as forty
dances become lighter than air.

Gerri demonstrates a grande plié
drop, release, now find your center

"Arms out, like wings!"
"Yes!"

Reach up, embrace the world and
new life.
Rest.

Beautiful!

And this was just the warm-up!

Jessie's Class July 11, 2015

Damn, I'm the oldest one here!

thought this was going to be a drop-in class

okay, it's drop-in but they're all dancers.

I'm next

to the barre

not at all stretched

ok - moving now

neck and shoulders

circles

sway

weight

softening

knees are strong

but left scap hurts

pivots are difficult

improvisations are easy

spirals -- I can do this!

the music makes me

want to dance

one 

two
three
four

sea shell spirals

god, they're on the floor now

sea urchins

tapping and spinning

drumbeats

3 jumps for me   no more

plie  plie

caps are warm

healed now

suddenly i hear a train

no --

it's john!

ęwwwww - owwwwwwww

this is wonderful

applause is

well deserved

lydia over there looks like judith jameson

doing a move from Revelation

stretched out

now a full back leg kick

long lines for a classic pose

it's time to go
been sweating bullets
still time for a shower before the
bill t. jones company performs

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company

Just in from a performance of Analogy/Dora: Tramontane, which is based on an oral history of Dora Amelan and her experiences during World War II.  The work is brilliant and combines theater, dance, dialogue, and original live music.  Its complexity is ground breaking and shines a new light on dance.  I was struck how the dancers so eloquently became actors in telling the story.  Bravo!

For an insightful review, please read:   http://forward.com/culture/309905/a-slow-dance-through-history/

I Met Someone Named Salem

     Salem Virgina Dockery sat across from me at the gathering after the poetry reading at Flyleaf.    What a great name!  Only in the South.  She knows Portuguese and Norwegian and learned Portuguese in Norway.  How very interested.

Also present was Travis from Flyleaf and Sandra Beasley and Al Albergotti, the two featured poets.

Wild Goose Festival

     I got a ticket to the Wild Goose Festival, which will be held at Hot Springs, North Carolina.  There's a full schedule of speakers and events.  The question is -- transportation...hoping I might ride with someone but haven't heard yet.

      I just found out about this festival on Monday.  It's a 5 hour drive -- will need to get the car looked at and get some tick repellant if I go.  It all sounds very lively and stimulating.   The other issue is where am I going to sleep?  There are going to be about 2,000 people at this event.

     Frank Schaeffer will be one of the speakers.  His father was Francis Schaeffer the conservative theologian.  Frank, or Franky as he was called as a young man, was a bit of a wild child apparently.  Spoiled rotten but also neglected by his busy parents.  Frank has written a book about his father,
Crazy for God, in which he exposes some family secrets like abuse and Frank's break with the right.

     I stayed at Dutch l'abri in the Netherlands in my late 20's.  L'abri is part part of the world wide network of retreat centers founded by Francis Schaeffer.  I see that the big white house still stands after all these years.  Wow.

     So, I didn't go.  Too much to do here in Durham, but I've got this show on my schedule for next year.  Whoopee!  I can volunteer!

Life of a Saint

Life of a Saint

“Give me a song of hope, and a world where I can sing it.” – Pauli Murray

Independent thinker

Daughter of an educator and a nurse

Granddaughter of a slave

Raised to be proud of her identity --

Orphened at three.

Whisperings of lynchings

            The KKK

                     Segregation

Tempered by teachers from Wilberforce and Howard

Proud shoes led to a law degree

But not from UNC

(Because of her race)

Or from Harvard

(because of her gender)

But from Howard University   

                First in her class

                          Accolades from Ginsberg and Kennedy

From academia to seminary

Ordained as the first black priest

At the Chapel of the Cross
Her grandmother was baptized there

Following in the footsteps of Jesus,

Advocating human rights of all.

Pauli was ordained a saint in the Episcopal Church on July 1, 2012 because of her tireless work as a lawyer and advocate for civil and labor rights.

Welcome to the Guest House

This business of being human is a guest house,
every morning, a new visitor.
I welcome all in.
Sadness?
I welcome you.  I turn no one away.
Anger?  Welcome.  For a while, you can stay.
Every loss.  Every injustice, every betrayal,
I accept you, I love you.
Come into my heart now.
It is over.  It is safe now.
Rest and be at peace.

And now the hardest,
shame.  I see arrogance, jealousy,
resentment, self pity, denial.

Welcome and entertain them all.
Treat each as a guest and treat 
them honorably.

Each dark thought I meet at the door,
laughing, delighted.
Grateful for whatever it is to become.