Design by Claire Calalo Berry of Flourish and Frost
I am thrilled to run this new series over the next month. Nine dancers will share ideas around somatic themes and how these themes play out in our lives right now - such as softening, allowing, activating, and slowing down to feel.
Like "flash fiction writing," each writer took on the challenge of sharing their ideas in 100 words or less. I hope you might get inspired to write on these themes as well, succinctly and poetically within this word limit!
Today we hear from Bhumi B. Patel, Andrea Olsen, and Elizebeth Randall Rains. All three dancers have contributed numerous posts to Life as a Modern Dancer over the years. Find some of those additional links below.
Be well,
Jill Randall
Blog Director, Life as a Modern Dancer
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soften
by Bhumi B. Patel
lately, i’ve been spending time with people who fill my rest line-item and in that i’ve been finding the softening.
remembering that there are places where i can lay my soft heart bare.
remembering that it is not wrong to feel that constricting.
cultivating the spaces where softness can bloom.
where will you sow your softening today?
By Andrea Olsen, February 5, 2021
Sensation
By Elizebeth Randall Rains
I am remembering performing. That sublime, electrifying experience. Feeling everything. Offering everything. Being seen.
I close my eyes. The stage light shines on my skin.
Now, I collect sensations like treasures. The anticipation and heat of the first sip of morning tea. My kids’ hands tenderly squeezing mine as we meander on our daily pathways. The coarse sand at Alameda Beach caressing my feet. Every cell yielding to gravity when I collapse right here on the wool rug.
No one is watching me but I am a wilderness of sensation.
The sunlight shines on my skin. I open my eyes.
Elizebeth Randall Rains is a mama, dancer, student and teacher living in the Bay Area. She enjoys sharing movement and community at Saint Mary's College and Shawl-Anderson Dance Center.
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