The East Bay Ecstatic are starting a Saturday night dance jam in San Francisco. KD and I ventured into the city, the land of no parking, to go dance to the mixings of our friend Ron Tofanalli. The space was great, beautiful altar, inspiring music. Not too many people yet, but they have built it so eventually we will come. For us this meant heaps of room on the dance floor. I was feeling rather introverted, just wanted to dance with Bernice. There were many contact opportunities there, and I did yearn to connect, but not enough to make eye contact, much less body contact. KD on the other hand made contact with a man named Philip, and they had an absolutely beautiful dance. With eyes mostly closed they moved round each others bodies, I watched, felt as though I was receiving a gift. KD is a beautiful kirtan dancer, she has done almost no contact improv, and yet she channelled something during this dance, she looked like a pro. When it was over she came over to me all a glow and told me how wonderful it had been, how respectful and gentle Philip was with her, just the healing my friend KD needs right now at this crazy time in her life.
Sometime later a man who I know from the dance community came over and said to her “Can I dance with you? I saw you doing contact earlier, I want to show you how it is suppose to be done.”
This idea that there is one way to do contact dance is not something I subscribe to. KD was peaved with this mans intrusion. She was perfectly happy with her heart opening dance, and felt no need to know how it was “suppose” to be done.
I love contact, no matter how it shows up, human connection through dance is the only “suppose to” that matters to me.
“Do you believe in right and wrong?” is the question in 12 days journal #124
You seem to ask a lot of questions that I have to answer both yes and no to, B! LOL. I don't believe in right and wrong as absolutes, except that it is wrong to knowingly or willingly do harm to another if it is at all possible to avoid it (and I recognize that that is not always possible). But I do believe that everyone has their own personal notions of what they consider to be right and wrong and that, because it's highly individual, no one should push their own personal rights or wrongs on others.
ReplyDeleteThat dancer guy you mentioned above? WRONG WRONG WRONG! He had no right to try to force his notions onto KD or anyone else. Arrogance or self-righteousness are both peeves of mine, too. I'm thinking I probably would have told him to, ahem, go "contact" himself, in less polite terms. LOL.