Day 361 Let it be a Dance

December 5, 2015

(If we live with an open and grateful attitude, every day will bring a gift. This is one of 365 gifts during the year I turned 70.)

Dance is the hidden language of the soul.” Martha Graham

What a beautiful Saturday, full of friends, art, food and drink. Gary fixed a hearty breakfast and then we went to Sharon Zarambo’s open studio where we had delicious gumbo soup and browsed her soul-touching art. After that, we drove to DuCard’s winery where we were treated to excellent wine and a friendly Santa.

Dinnertime was filled with more drinks and a gourmet dinner prepared by Stacy and Rayned. After dinner, another clear and full night sky called to me while Geri and Gary snuggled near the fire and Stacy and Rayned played dance songs from his iPhone through my miniature Bose speaker. Standing outside in the chilly air with the door closed,  I could not hear the music but through the large windows, I saw their bodies swinging out, twirling, and coming together again. Watching them dancing, without hearing the music, touched something in me...a magic moment. I watched a blur of movement that told me the music lived inside of them, inside of their life together. 

In A Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote, "A good relationship has a pattern like a dance..." The dancers know "they are moving to the same rhythm, creating a pattern together, and being invisibly nourished by it. The joy of the pattern is not only the joy of creation or the joy of participation; it is also the joy of living in the moment."

It reminded me of a 1977 song, Let It Be a Dance, that still sings in my heart, an original piece by a Unitarian songwriter, with contagious simple lyrics and tune but so true. 

Morning star comes out at night,

Without the dark there is no light.

If nothing’s wrong, then nothing’s right.

Let it be a dance.
~ Ric Masten, .

Life is a dance and the best dance is a joy-filled blur on a star-filled night.

My gift today is a dance.  

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A sermon about Ric Masten and Let It Be a Dance:
http://199.237.214.160/sermons/LetitBeaDance.pdf 

> Day 362: Disconnecting and Connecting

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:
http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

              

Day 238 Reflection

August 4, 2015 

(If we live with an open and grateful attitude, every day will bring a gift. This is one of 365 gifts during the year I turned 70.)

A lithe and blithe figure danced as the sun set. Creative Exposure Baltimore meetup met tonight to celebrate our seventh birthday by shooting models and surroundings outside the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Emily arrived a little late but lost no time in dancing and sharing her spirit with the photographers as we experienced shutter clicks, rain, sun, a rainbow and birthday cake. 

A song came to mind, one by Ric Masten that I heard many years ago when he performed at the Unitarian Church in Annapolis. As I move (not so lithe) through each day, one particular tune continues to float through my head—Let it Be a Dance. It is a simple tune about dancing through life and one verse fit tonight: 

Let the sun shine, let it rain. Share the laughter, bear the pain.
Round and round, we go again, Let it be a dance." ~ Ric Masten

As I watched this beautiful young woman flow in motion, I was intrigued by her reflection in a puddle left by the rain just a half hour before. Her reflection left as soon as she moved position, the puddle will be gone by tomorrow morning, but she will still carry the dance inside.

Life is the dancer and you are the dance.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

I carry a dancer inside as I choreograph by narrative.

My gift today is a dance.

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> Day 239 Steering From Inside

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

Day 114 Venus Envy

April 2, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

 

Jenna Boyles performed tonight at Venus Envy, at Gallery 788 in Baltimore.

Art energizes, inspires and stretches my perception, but an all-female show also adds an extra ingredient…rebirth. I attended an all-female art show tonight, Venus Envy, at Gallery 788 in Hampden. (I have an abstract photo hanging with the title "Climax.") This is a setting that gives permission for women to step out of their traditional role or preconceived expectations and to stretch the boundaries of how they are defined. Instead of allowing others to define us, we define ourselves and raise our middle fingers at those who object.

At last year’s Venus Envy exhibit, conceptual performance artist Jenna Boyles performed a dance with audience participation, holding stretched nylon stockings as she wove a dance. This year, she performed two conceptual pieces where in one, the audience held stretched nylon but this time it was weighted at the bottom. I liked this but was also intrigued by another dance where she used a fan to first blow pieces of newspaper against her body and then a sheer netted scarf flowed with the wind and her movement.  What mesmerized me was the interaction of the air current with the scarf, which alternated between revealing her fully or partially. Indeed, this mirrors women’s lives, which are sometimes revealed fully to the world and other times only partially revealed. When a woman is partially hidden, not only does the world see her incompletely, but also she sees life through a gauzy haze that separates her from the world. 

Maybe it is this female duality and the questions it sparks that fascinate me so much. Just how much of ourselves should we reveal? Is it best to put out everything in full view or should we always leave some layers beneath the surface? And, maybe more important, how do we respond to the fluid flow of air? Do we hide or do we stand in its path and dance with it? 

My gift today is a dance.

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> Day 115 Catching Bad

You can read my other posts on this project here:
http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

Evolution of Art

My friend, Petronio, just completed a collaboration that shows how art is evolving. A blending of art, performing art and technology adds yet another layer to possibilities!

Petrônio Bendito, Visual Design, Digital Graffiti, SoftwareDidier Guigue, Music
Solange Caldeira, Choreographer, Experiment Advisor

This work is an improvisational dance experiment with the software Kinetic Traces conducted at the Federal University of Viçosa (Summer 2010), Curso de Dança.

Dancers: Karinne Goulart, Rafaela Oliveira, Jessila Gomes, Jônatas Raine, Clara de Oliveira, Pedro Ferreira, Solange Caldeira, Marcella Alves, Daniele Duran, Cynthia Colombo, Andréa Bergallo, Alex Neural, Brenda Vilatoro, Maristela Lima.