adrift wood drifting

I went down in the afternoon

to the sea

which held me, until I grew easy.

About tomorrow, who knows anything.

Except that it will be time, again,

for the deepening and quieting of the spirit.

Mary Oliver - from "Red Bird"

Today's dance practice was inspired by several driftwood poles protruding from the sand beside the sea. I have been feeling inwardly devastated lately with the hemorrhaging of our Mother Earth beneath the Gulf of Mexico... I was feeling a desire to be held, and cradled by the sea, to do a dance of connecting to the rhythms of the sea... but instead, when I saw these posts, I couldn't resist a dance exchange / a-drifting with them...

My butoh mentor's sensei Kazuo Ohno has emphasized the idea of "not thinking, only soul," while dancing, and today it was my challenge to drop into presence without thought and interact with what was in-front of me, moment to moment - the vertical posts, the unexpected small horizontal poles discovered balanced on top of the posts , the forgiving quality of the sand underfoot...

At times it feels when the circumstances in our world are overwhelming the best thing to do is to drop into what matters up close and personal... to find balance within to extend balance and optimism outwardly... taking time to nourish the soul and quiet the spirit...

Feeling grateful for the beauty of Mama Earth and grateful for this practice as taught by my mentor, Momo.

Thank you for viewing this blog. I hope it may inspire in some way,

Lee

If you double-click the film below you can view it without it being cut off on the right-side :~)

Music: Claude Debussy

Filmed by Brooke

Visit my butoh mentor's inspiring blog here: Maureen 'Momo' Freehill