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 Sima Belmar, Leah Cox, and Molly Rose-Williams about collapsing, yielding, and recuperating. 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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1930 D. H. Lawrence Assorted Articles 19 If I could dance all day as well, I might keep going. It's this leaving off that does me in.—And she lapsed out. –from definition I.1.a. of “lapse” in the OED
Collapse:
The failure of a system
Collapse:
To fall together
How could I have missed that meaning
As dancers we fall together all the time
perhaps because collapse sounds lonely
the second syllable accentuating the landing
rather than the falling
Collapse:
A contraction
Not yours, Martha
My prayer?
That from collapse another system emerges
As the rivers lapse along
Sima Belmar, Ph.D., is a Lecturer in the Department of Theater, Dance, & Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and the ODC Writer in Residence. To keep up with Sima’s writing please subscribe to tinyletter.com/simabelmar.
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I’m just starting my run when I see my friend Yield. She’s rounding the bend.
We wave.
“Hey! Can’t stop now,” she says.
Radiant smile.
“I’m hanging with Surrender—
(that’s her cousin)
—and then I’m gonna bounce to Push’s.”
(that’s her twin brother)
“Oh!” she says, pausing to reach for some new leaves budding on the willow tree. “Did you see? First ones of the season, I think.”
I look.
“Until soon!” Yield calls, and she’s already across the intersection.
I smile, vaguely registering the overgrown grass shimmering against my ankles.
That’s what I love about Yield.
Leah Cox is Dean of the American Dance Festival and an Associate Professor of dance at the University of Texas at Austin.
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A year ago my grandmother died and I found myself staring at a sky split open with light. Dancing is like remembering to breathe, remembering the skin on the back of my body. I feel the air on my scalp, hairs singing as I move in the morning, afternoon, evening light. My bones bloom like sponges, muscles like rubber or coiled springs, or snakes in waiting—a gentle squeeze. I am dancing again.
Related posts and articles:
Somatic Writing Series: Bhumi B. Patel, Andrea Olsen, and Elizebeth Randall Rains
Dancing in Quarantine: Gaga with James Graham - By Sima Belmar (on medium.com)
Redefining Solo - By Sima Belmar
Blog Series: Studio Practice/Studio Time (Leah Cox)
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