#SOL17: Everybody Dance Now

I was reading a post by Michael Doyle, Happiness IV, Keep Moving, in which he advocates dancing--moving the body. This got me thinking about two things: I had just read about dancing in a book, Life is a Verb and I was thinking about Christopher Walken.

First the experiment. In Life Is a Verb: 37 Days To Wake Up, Be Mindful, And Live Intentionally, Patti Digh sets out a set of actions and movements.  The first action in the book is below and it focuses on getting your body in motion. Patti writes:

Action: Mark Twain has said, “On with the dance, let joy be unconfined is my motto, whether there’s any dance to dance or any joy to unconfine.” 

Let’s explore joy for a moment. Put on some music and dance like a five-year-old for two minutes. Then get out your journal and write for three minutes (without pause, without raising your pen from the page or checking for spelling or grammar and all those other things that inhibit the flow of ideas) in response to the following question: What brings me joy? 

After three minutes, read what you have written. Now for three minutes, write a description of the dance that would best demonstrate that joy. Be as detailed as you can in describing the physicality of that dance. How would you move in the world to express that joy? Then write for two minutes on this question: What keeps me from dancing that  dance?

Ok. I'm ready. So I put on the music. Just me and Christopher finding out how to be unconfined for 5 minutes.






Catching my breath and then on to the writing: This I'll do off screen on paper and later I think I'll use it in a painting.

Be back in a few minutes.

A journal spread I wrote on. The pages were the result of cleaning a brayer I was using when making prints.

Final two-page spread in my art journal.

What I noticed while dancing was that I felt joyful and playful. I was happier and not just for those five minutes, but throughout the day. When I decided to cover the writing with paint, I approached it much like the dancing. Play a bit, I thought and see what comes of it.

So are you ready to dance a little?  Dance like you were 5?  I won't tell:)

The Best Slow Dancer

The Best Slow Dancer

by David Wagoner

Under the sagging clotheslines of crepe paper
By the second string of teachers and wallflowers
In the school gym across the key through the glitter
Of mirrored light three-second rule forever
Suspended you danced with her the best slow dancer
Who stood on tiptoe who almost wasn't there
In your arms like music she knew just how to answer
The question mark of your spine your hand in hers
The other touching that place between her shoulders
Trembling your countless feet lightfooted sure
To move as they wished wherever you might stagger
Without her she turned in time she knew where you were
In time she turned her body into yours
As you moved from thigh to secrets to breast yet never
Where you could be for all time never closer
Than your cheek against her temple her ear just under
Your lips that tried all evening long to tell her
You weren't the worst one not the boy whose mother
Had taught him to count to murmur over and over
One slide two slide three slide now no longer
The one in the hallway after class the scuffler
The double clubfoot gawker the mouth breather
With the wrong haircut who would never kiss her
But see her dancing off with someone or other
Older more clever smoother dreamier
Not waving a sister somebody else's partner
Lover while you went floating home through the air
To lie down lighter than air in a moonlit shimmer
Alone to whisper yourself to sleep remember.

"The Best Slow Dancer" by David Wagoner from Traveling Light.© University of Illinois Press. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)