Musings of a Dance/Movement Therapist

Dance of the Differently Abled, Amazing Visually Impaired Bharata Natyam Dancers

Vitalah Simon shared the following information about visually impaired dancers from the Shree Ramana Maharshi Academy for the Blind from Bangalore, India. Vitalah said, "I had the good fortune of seeing them perform twice last summer and was truly amazed!  Their work together as a "corps du ballet" was phenomenal! ( It was an Indian Dance Festival in Westchester, NY.) And their spirituality was also very palpable. They worked on performance stages which had real edges - like 6 foot drops, and didn't even come close to a problem with the space.  When they first entered the space, they walked around it once as a group, holding hands in a line, led by a teacher. Then the music was turned on and the dance began. Voila! Truly inspiring on so many levels.

http://www.srmab.org.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=48

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlFXRc1UGNQ

Break! The Urban Funk Spectacular

I went to see what I found to be a wonderfully inspiring performance last night of Break! The Urban Funk Spectacular. I wasn't sure that I would like it, since I don't like rap, but I do love breakdancing. I love the idea of kids dancing in the streets, and bringing that kind of raw energy into the theatre is very exciting. My favorite was Kenny Muhammed, also known as "The Human Orchestra". At first, it seemed to be more "music" than dance, but as he really got into what he was doing, it was an amazing dance about creating rhythmic sound through the involvement of his own body. It was highly original, and the amount of energy he invested in his performance was extraordinary. The result was my becoming energized, and wondering how to bring something of this energy into my work with the elderly! I'll let you know if I figure out how to do that.

Check him out for yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55C0RirU3yA

I also loved "Locking Q", otherwise known as Kumiko Naito. Her popping was pretty spectacular and she has incredibly precise timing.

From the program, Val Brochard, the director of production said "Their love for this art form is contagious and I promise you that BREAK! will leave you charged up with tons of positive energy!" It definitely did that.

Dance as Ritual

I just found another blog about musings, this one about drumming, but it is equally true of dancing. At
http://www.tahya.com/musings.html, Tahya offers her thoughts and others about drum and dance as ritual. Here is an excerpt I particularly liked:

"As We Drum, We Are One
by Feeny Lipscomb

Dreams are the way the unconscious
speaks to the conscious mind.
Ritual is the way the conscious mind speaks back.
In fact, many indigenous cultures believe
there is a deep,
pre-verbal part of us that understands only
the language of ritual."

Modern society's loss of its rituals has caused psychic fragmentation--literally, the state of being disconnected from our deeper selves.

The result is a sort of soul starvation--a deep, non-specific hunger which we've tried desperately (and unsuccessfully) to feed with food, drugs, sex, alcohol, shopping, gambling, work. Many healers believe that this psychic fragmentation is at the root of stress.

"The drum is emerging as the transformational tool of our time."