PAPERBARK WONDERMENT/A significant other practice/to awaken wonder.
I have noticed over the past month or so a great sense of inertia, within mind, within body. A real resistance to what is, to change, to flow, to movement, to dance, to LIFE! This heavy sense of inertia, had me questioning the very essence of movement…movement is… movement comes from…goes to… unmoved mover..immovable..…will I move again…Did I ever stop? I long to find the wonder in it all again - Regaining a sense of wonder is surely key to unlocking inertia..?I took these questions to a beautiful old Paper bark tree at the foot of my mothers yard. The sunlight, peeping through her branches beckoned me to play...and finally... I was inspired to move…
I dance with Paperbark tree/she gives me her bark/floating through/spring sunlight skies/warm bones/twisting limbs/like twisting branches/we ARE seed/we ARE soil/we grow as tree does/rooted to earth/forever reaching to heaven/we ARE axis/divine conduit/Soul IS constant/Motion is constant/never ceasing/only passing through us/ without containment/Resistance IS DANCE
Wise paperbark/has seen me grow/knows all my stories/watches silently as the world changes/if I cannot dance with her/I cannot dance at all/if we must know what moves us/why we dance?/all we need to do is look at paperbark and listen/how then could we not begin to dance?/how could we not remember/ that to move/we must be moved/to be moved/we must first see the wonder!/the wonder of every leaf/every string of bark/every paperbark.
"...if you're a poor forlorn oil industry feeling unloved and under assault, what do you do?
There's really only one answer: Flash your wad...
The other side -- that is, scientists, Nobelists, and the kind of average people who went to jail in record numbers this summer to block the plan -- doesn't have that kind of money. We've had to figure out other currencies to work in: spirit, passion, creativity... But if money's the only thing that matters, we're done for anyway. So we'll keep using science and art and courage." Bill McKibben
Blog catching up - dance /photos from several weeks ago... I have been so deeply moved by the peaceful protests occurring in both Canada and the United States against the Keystone XL Pipeline, the Northern Gateways Pipelines and also, more importantly, the Alberta Tar Sands themselves. I have been feeling that as much as we seem, as a species, to be evolving in very inspiring ways towards a 'unity consciousness,' a sense of being related to not only one-another around the planet, but also to other beings, we are also moving towards a directly opposing, but just as strong trend, towards destroying our mama earth and all that reside upon her, at all costs.
"But it is hard to speak of these things / how the voices of light enter the body / and begin to recite their stories / how the earth holds us painfully against / its breast made of humus and brambles / how we who will soon be gone regard / the entities that continue to return / greener than ever, spring water flowing / through a meadow and the shadows of clouds / passing over the hills and the ground / where we stand in the tremble of thought / taking the vast outside into ourselves."
Billy Collins
When I feel overwhelmed with despair for the destruction of our world, and the wild beings that reside upon her, I dance... I wrote the following several weeks ago:
i am dancing because i have to... for the bears, the salmon, the caribou, the wolves, the migrating birds and all the creatures whose lives are being threatened from the increased pollution and habitat destruction... because i am canadian and it is unconscionable to me that the current government is supporting an oil extraction method that is the dirtiest energy project in the world, one that is devastating to all beings on our precious mama earth...i am dancing in solidarity with the indigenous peoples whose health and lives are being jeopardized by the alberta tar sands upriver of their communities... because human rights are being violated... i am dancing because i have to... because sometimes it feels my heart will explode with pain and anger at the lack of respect some human beings that run corporations have for all life and for future generations... i dance... i dance...
Thank you for viewing this post. I hope it may inspire you in some way. I am grateful for Momo and Company for being able to share our dance offerings here...
Lee
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
May all beings everywhere be happy and free from suffering, and may our thoughts and actions contribute to that happiness and freedom from suffering for all beings...
Revisiting the 11/11 site, dancing as and with the salmon, the bear, the eagle, the human(s). Integrating them all into my own nature, my own place in the cycle of life. Looking into and forward to the future. I'm grateful for and to all of the beings I have communed with, especially to Momo and all those who shared this time and place and dance with me. Many thanks to all!
"Butoh plays with time and also perspective....If we humans learn to see things from the perspective of an animal, an insect, even inanimate objects, the road trodden everyday is alive--we should value everything." --Tatsumi Hijikata
A surprise discovery on the wild Stehekin River--little Sockeye Kokanee Salmon are spawning freely! Such an inspiration in preparation for our 11/11/11 dance to honor the salmon life cycle at mile 11 on highway 11 at 11:11am. MomoButoh Dance Company members will gather from all over the continent at Oyster Creek for our 5th annual ritual butoh performance. This year we have 11 dancers working with live musicians, singers, story tellers and poets. We will offer 11 unique site-specific scores revealing 11 segments in salmon's life cycle:
1 ~~>))))> Salmon legends of seaside native people...
2 ~~>))))> Salmon struggling for survival with humans due to overfishing, dams & toxic spills...
3~~~>))))> Salmon "in between" moving up & down river, not knowing whether they will survive the journey...
4~~>))))> Salmon as prey for bears, eagles and other predators...
5~~~>))))> Salmon meeting a lone fisherman standing in stillness sensing the connectivity of the freely flowing current...
6~~ >))))> Salmon babies eating their egg sacs & everything else they can...
7~~~ >))))> Salmon struggling to return to their birthplace & home stream...
8~~>))))> Salmon eggs waiting to hatch, floating aloft in current...
9~~~~ >))))>Salmon males & females spawning...
10~~ >)))) Salmon dying & offering flesh to future generations.
11~~~~>))))>Salmon move en masse to swim freely in the open sea!
On the bank of the Stehekin, among the Kokanee, I discovered the ripples, the resting, the joy and pain of struggle against obstacles. The release of the body, the floating of the spirit! Thank you dear swimming relatives, it is for your life, your increase & your vitality that we offer our dance.
Our flesh is your flesh, our eyes are your watery eyes, our spines your spines, our struggle your struggle, our love & death is yours as well. May our dance reveal our deep gratitude for your beauty, presence & gifts.
PAPERBARK WONDERMENT/A significant other practice/to awaken wonder.
