Thirty Days of Thoughts: Day 10

Tags

Ballet, Believing, choreography, conscious body, Conscious Living, conscious movement, contemporary ballet, contemporary dance, courage, Courageous Vulnerability, Dance, EBAS, inclusion, love, Movement, movement meditation, movement wellness, Soul to Soul, spirit

6/11/21

I am looking forward to presenting at the annual Corps de Ballet conference coming up at the beginning of July. I was invited to share my research with them through the lens of the Elemental Body Alignment System (EBAS) connecting the work with their theme; Suspended in Grand Renversé: Embracing the “Big Upset” and Ballet’s Relationship to Liberatory Practices. 

I am excited about this particular sharing as I will be making the connection with The Five Element System of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and EBAS to the ballet form and how this time of return might be the right time for rewiring our practice and welcoming more folks into the form through a sensorial approach to the form rather than the traditional aesthetic approach which has isolated so many from the fold. 

In this sharing I will be turning our focus to the sensations and imagery the elements offer as a new window into the experiential discovery from the inside out, rather than the outside in. Since the five elements of: winter, spring, summer, late summer and fall correspond to yin and yang organs, emotions and energies; this shift will allow access to an internalized visioning as well as emotional connection and qualitative correlation to qualitative dynamics. 

By referencing the actions and movements in EBAS like the Spinal Awakening Series, we will be able to see how the kidneys are connected to the contraction as the first articulation and movement in awakening our practice in EBAS. Winter is the first element of the wheel just as the contraction is the first articulation of EBAS. Wonderfully, the plié is the first exercise in the ballet form as well. Looking at how the kidneys rise and fall or rather descend and ascend in the “waters” of the form, helps us to feel or sense the buoyancy of the floating vertical pelvic bowl and the animating of our backspace through the kidneys. 

This is just an example of the kind of information we will be swimming in as we explore how layering and weaving all these concepts through the somatic lens and the experiential body practice opens the floor to all bodies who wish to explore the movements of ballet through their own perspective and potential. The practice becomes one of internal connection rather than external manufacturing and manipulation. Imagine the freedom of sensing and then reflecting then ultimately radiating that imagery and energy through movement and spirit? 

Sing Your Truth

Tags

allowing, art, becoming, beleif, Believing, bliss, body knowledge, choreographer, Conscious Living, courage, Courageous Vulnerability, Creative Flow, Creativity, Dance, development, EBAS, expressing, faith, forgiveness, sharing, sing, trusting

Sing your truth with passion and trust you will be guided by the spirits of the world. They will keep you, support you and wrap you in the ever evolving flow of knowledge and light. Remember you are a beautiful creature of the creative energy that is our existence and our physiology. You are the expression and reality of the universe.

Express without fear. Express with love. Express with light.

Sing your truth and let the song be heard by those  of open heart to hear it. Write your work and let it be read by those of open mind to understand it. Dance your heart and let it be felt by those of open vibration to absorb it. Radiate your energy and let the healers light be imprinted by those of open veins to channel it.

Express without fear. Express with love. Express with light.

And So It Begins

Tags

art, athens, Ballet, Believing, bliss, body, body knowledge, conscious body, Conscious Living, contemporary ballet, Creative Flow, creative process, Creativity, Dance, development, dreams, EBAS, Energy, faith, modern dance, Paris, research, travel, VCU Dance

As I finish up my last day here in RIC for a while, I am profoundly grateful for the opportunities that are opening up before me. Thankful for the freedom to move about the world and share my work and passions with people from all over the globe. I marvel at what dance has done for my life and for how it has carried me to places that I could have never dreamed of as a young man.

As a matter of fact, I had no clue I was a dancer. No clue that I would end up where I am creating three dimensional visceral landscapes, teaching how to create internal space and design external realities or bringing consciousness to the energetic pathways of our technique. I often wonder how I turned down this road.

Yet, I am on this journey. Happily and gratefully on this journey.

This trip to Athens is to present my perspective on teaching by sharing my  research, Training a Conscious Body: Redefining Pedagogy Practices in Contemporary Dance Technique for Increased Architectural Support and Physical Integrity. I am excited to share these examinations and talk about learning through sensation rather than imitation and the reexamining of time within the classroom.

The travel that follows will be to teach and to collaborate on the Paris Semester Abroad program for our students at VCU to take part in Spring 2016. I am excited to meet up with Michael Foley as well as Colleen Thomas-Young to share and organize all of this goodness. What amazing people to walk that journey with. Very grateful to Michael for his brilliance.

In addition, I will be meeting up with my dear friends Keith Bell and Josh Sessions to have a writing retreat. Both myself and Keith are working on books and we are going to spend our time writing in the cafes for even greater inspiration. A little fantasy come true I guess.

And one of the most synchronistic events will be having breakfast with Linda Kohanov. I have long admired her research and work with horses and had the luxury of participating in one of her leadership workshops this spring. She is an inspiration to me and I am tickled to be able to meet with her and hear her stories of the wonderful sharing she is doing with her work and the release of her book Power of the Herd in French.

I am truly grateful!!

And so, this begins the journey.

Seeing in all Directions/Walking Along the Center Line

Tags

Balance, becoming, beleif, Believing, body, body knowledge, change, choice, compassion, Conscious Living, dreams, EBAS, Energy, humanity

We live our lives moving forward. in motion in one direction seeing only what is in front of us and desiring what is so far beyond ourselves. Would it not be more dimensional if we started living in all directions forcing us to anchor ourselves and our energies by the center line of our beings?  Our spines and the very core of our being, and ways of being, would be engaged in a sense of ascending and descending reaching in order to stabilize this new sense of seeing and being.

In doing so, we might find a surge of energy and creativity focusing and reconnecting damaged pathways that have occurred by living a life focused on a future. We might find a sense of internal opening and awakening as we find the balance of our internal and external selves as we allow and acknowledge ourselves as the center of our humanity and the inspiration of our dreams. The radiant body becomes the very thing that grounds our existence. Simply by seeing in all directions, we find our electric selves charged by a new sense of existing and enter a life long journey of walking along the center line.

Making of Matter; Everything Does

Tags

art, Balance, becoming, beleif, bliss, body knowledge, change, EBAS, elemental, sacred

Heaven and Earth

Spirit or Matter

Man exists between

His arm span equal to height

The moon resting on his head

33 years for a perfect solar journey

12 moons to celebrate

Numbers in space

Numbers in time

Tone existing between 4th and 5th

Intervals as shape

Two patterns near perfect

Two triangles

Four squares

Everything made of light, matter and sound

Windows allow the light to see into the dark

Balance kept by line and curve

Fundamental Architecture

Tags

architectural integrity, art, Balance, becoming, bliss, body knowledge, choreography, Creativity, Dance, development, EBAS, fundamental, spiritual becoming, structural integrity

The point

No dimension

No space

Line

Emerging the active

Emerging the passive

Plane

Equidistant expression

Equidistant reality

From the singular comes the emergence of a balanced expression of architectural reality

Thoughts in the Morning

Tags

allowing, artist, Balance, Ballet, becoming, beleif, Believing, bliss, body knowledge, change, choreography, Conscious Living, contemporary dance, courage, Courageous Vulnerability, EBAS, Energy, faith, Grateful

In my meditations this morning I was reminded of an image I share when I am teaching dance. I was also reminded that this thought process is very present in all of my work. That made me take a moment and enjoy how wonderful my work is and how grateful I am for being able to do the work I do. I thought I might share this with you and see if in fact it touches you today.

This entry is from Stephen Mitchell’s The Second Book of Tao. I am pulling out a part of the writing to direct my thoughts more clearly.

“Between the joints there are spaces, and the blade has no thickness. It slips right through; there is more than enough room for it. And when I come to a difficult part, I slow down, I focus my attention, I barely move, the knife finds its way until suddenly the flesh falls apart on its own. I stand there and let the joy of the work fill me. Then I wipe the blade clean and put it away.”

This reminds me a lot of how I share my thoughts about dance. I speak a lot about the space between gravity. The image is to remind people that we are not defying gravity, but moving through it with the rising energy of the earth that moves freely through our bodies. When we are training and learning new skills, it is imperative to take a moment to slow down and truly learn the movement by focusing on the sensation and feeling of each molecule of our being. When we do this we can feel the transformation of physicality as the unknown becomes felt and the difficulty falls away. It is as if we peel away the layer of confusion by quieting the mind and letting the mind of the body figure out the work. And when all is said and felt, we honor the work by thanking ourselves for taking the time and allowing the space to express our courage and vulnerability of the journey of not knowing to knowing.

Shaping and Framing

Tags

Ballet, choreography, Conscious Living, contemporary dance, courage, Dance, EBAS, Energy, joy, Modern, modern dance, Teaching, universal heart

Suspended points in space framing the blue

Shaping the circumference

 

The relationship of the internal referencing the vast

Experiencing the divine

 

It is not for the body to know more than it feels

Simplicity in the act of a movement

 

Bringing the mind into consciousness

Seeing things as they are

 

Comprehending limitless possibilities

Presented by potential space

 

It is not a mistake that we move to be moved

Unconditional joy in being

 

Thoughts on an Open Morning

Tags

arts, beleif, Dance, EBAS, journey, Mantra, open heart, path, quiet heart, quiet mind, shift, space, spiritual, wisdom

Quiet heart, quiet mind has been my mantra for calm and rest during the tumultuous past nine months of tireless travel, teaching and creativity. It has brought many of beautiful things to fruition and changed an otherwise anxious heart to one of spacious graciousness followed by a mind at peace. It has been the right kind of focus at a time when speed wanted to override the joy.

 

Now, I am realizing how much luxurious space there is in my life for the first time in a very long time. Exuberant, vacuous space full of intent and joy. My world has been blown open not by the removal of moments, but rather by the appreciation and sense of gratitude inside existing moments with a new found sense of clarity, quiet and calm. Courage resides in this space as my guide no longer a need for battle.

 

As I spend a quiet and cool morning at home with the boys, a cup of coffee and space, I wonder what it is I will carry as a mantra through the rest of the year and perhaps on into the rest of the school year. What keeps surfacing for me at present is an open heart. A heart that is permeable and porous free from fear and doubt; a heart that says yes “we” can share and yes “we” can give.

 

It seems to me that this is the time for extreme giving. This is the time for sharing what we have, what we do and what we can with others around us. If there ever was a time to be philanthropic and a supporter of the arts, healing and spiritual growth, that time would be now. This is the time of great healing and great bridge building. This is the time where we need to go deep within so that our explorations of ourselves might move out into the vat uncharted spaces of our world sharing all we have with others.  Now is a time for opening our hearts.

Phew!!

Tags

Amaranth, bliss, EBAS, gratitude, research leave, Scott Putman, travel

It has been quite some time since I last sat down and typed at these keys. It feels great to have a little bit of space in my life to be able to sit here and face the screen looking out into the vast internet hoping to connect with all of you. It is lovely to be back and I am looking forward to sharing with you all the lovely time I have been having and the insights that have passed through me during my time away from this blog.

First off, let me say how grateful I am to have had the luxury of a research leave that has been graciously supported by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and the beautiful VCU Dance Department. I am so thankful for everyone who absorbed some of my work load, shared in covering for me, and just the energy it took to allow me the freedom to stretch my wings. I feel air again and I am so thankful I am able to once again fly with the wind rather than against it. Thank you!

Second, I have had the incredible opportunity to fly around the globe sharing my work both in choreography and in the Elemental Body Alignment System (EBAS). It has been such a joy to be opening my work up to a large audience and seeing how that work and that energy is being accepted and absorbed into the many practices we have shared it in. I can’t express the joy I feel when I see the work in action and the immediacy of the work in the hearts and bodies of those who are experiencing it. Thank you for your trust and your faith, not only in the work, but also in me. I am humbled and honored.

Finally, I have so much to share that I would like to spend some time allowing it to fall into all of the right places. There are so many thoughts and ideas that they all need the right time and the right space to enter this blog space. That said, stay tuned to the blog and all that will be revealing itself on these pages. I have missed the practice of writing and expressing myself through the written form and can’t wait to get back to the regular expression of my heart.

Thank you again to all of you who continue to follow, support, share and believe. I can feel your energy and I am so grateful to you for sharing in the bliss of this life. May you feel my gratitude coming back to you not only directly through me, but through all of those that get to experience the joy of Amaranth, EBAS and VCU.

My energy fill your body, may light fill your soul, and may love radiate from your heart!!