seven seven eleven moon

"Heart is like the moon. Don't keep sorrows in it. Cast them off in waters deep." Rumi

After spending a few days alone in my childhood home one month to the day after my Dad passed (7/7/11), I could feel his presence as I left. Unexpectedly, the motion detector lights at the far end of the house turned on mysteriously as I was packing up my car. I was reminded of the ritual Dad and I had of him standing at the door, waiting and waving as I backed out of the long driveway after visiting with him.

Missing him, tears began to flow and I felt inspired to dance my grief, so I threw on a sweater and hat that belonged to him, and just as I set up the camera, a thundercloud overhead began to send rain to the earth - the hugest drops I have seen in a awhile, feeling like they were my tears, washing my spirit's grief...

Driving home, I was inspired to pull off the highway onto a deserted country road to take a photo of the moon, which suddenly appeared through a crack in the clouds. As I pulled to the side of the road, a white barn owl flew across the moon's light and onto a nearby barn roof. Once again I felt insipred to dance, feeling my Dad's presence in the infinite night sky, reminded of the connection I felt with the moon and his passing...

Right after Dad passed in the hospice a visitor in the lobby began to play Debussy's 'Clair de Lune,' a song that I remembered hearing waft through our home as a child. Hearing the song so soon after he passed, felt like Dad was being serenaded into the spirit realm with the sounds of the moonlight...

Connecting to my Dad, the moon, the owl, the cosmos and the mystery...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpLQUO9fsJM

Music: Clair de Lune

Thank you for viewing my blog posts of grieving. I hope they may inspire in some way to embrace and embody your own grief, when the time arises, in a way that is nourishing for your being -- body, mind and spirit.

Lee

Visit our collaborative blog here: Momobutoh Company

white spirit bear

A few months ago I found it difficult to read three news articles while in Vancouver at my childhood home.

The first was the news about the starving bears and eagles in the early spring in B.C. - both starving due to the lack of pink and chum salmon returning to their spawning grounds last fall. Young starving bear cubs ended up in wildlife rehab centers and hundreds of eagles at a time were scrounging for food from a garbage landfill site near Vancouver, B.C.

I was also saddened and maddened by the second news I read of the proposed tanker route off the westcoast of B.C. that would transport oil from the Alberta tar sands. The tar sands and projected pipelines are enough in themselves to be environmentally disastrous for our planet, however, the projected route would take the tankers into the head of Douglas Bay - a pristine land and habitat to abundant wildlife including the black bear and the rare kermode or white spirit bears where a potential oil spill would be catastrophic.

An oil spill in this region could wipe out wildlife in the area both directly and indirectly - directly by destroying salmon runs, and indirectly by starving the ecosystems that rely on salmon for food - including bears, eagles, wolves, sea lions, orca and humpback whales... An online petition is available to sign: here.

I highly recommend the following film, describing the plans to try and save this unique ecosystem:

To top it off, the third news I read was about bear trophy hunting in the Great Bear Rainforest, located along Canada's Pacific coast, spanning 21 million acres of some of the world’s most spectacular landscapes. As one of the largest temperate rainforests on Earth, it's stunning mountains, forests, fjords, and waterways are home to thousands of species of birds, plants and animals – including grizzlies, black bears and also the white spirit bear. Although the spirit bears are protected, they are born from black bear mothers - it is a particular recessive gene that makes them white. Reducing the population of black bears in general could potentially wipe out the population of white spirit bears whose total number is less than 200. A petition is available to sign here: stop trophy bear hunting in British Columbia.

I have loved bears for as long as I can remember and feel a deep spiritual connection to them. When I lived in Whistler B.C. many years ago I had many close encounters with them while hiking in the wilds. Unfortunately, many bears began to rely more and more on garbage from the landfill site as their habitat was being developed into an all season resort. As a result, the bears were also coming more frequently into neighborhoods for 'garbage-food' where they were inevitably destroyed.

The more recent news of the bears and their habitat being threatened broke my heart. When it feels like I am carrying a lot of grief for the suffering of our world's wild habitats due to our actions, I feel like there is a mini time-bomb inside that is ready to explode... and it is what often is my inspiration to dance - to dance my grief, my prayers, my hopes, and my optimism...

When I met wonderful and talented Rex for a photo / dance session (see one of his sessions with Momo here: 'Tough Love in the Gravel'), he had no idea I had a dance of grief in mind, nor that I was prepared with a bag full of costumes and props! I was grateful for his willingness to capture this dance of connection to the suffering of the bears in film and to be my witness.

Spring

Somewhere

a black bear

has just risen from sleep

and is staring

down the mountain.

All night

in the brisk and shallow restlessness

of early spring

I think of her,

her four black fists

flicking the gravel,

her tongue

like a red fire

touching the grass,

the cold water.

There is only one question:

how to love this world.

I think of her

rising

like a black and leafy ledge

to sharpen her claws against

the silence

of the trees.

Whatever else

my life is

with its poems

and its music

and its glass cities,

it is also this dazzling darkness

coming

down the mountain,

breathing and tasting;

all day I think of her -

her white teeth,

her wordlessness,

her perfect love.

Mary Oliver

Thank you for viewing my blog... I hope you may find some inspiration within it - to dance your own dance of grief, eco-activism, protest, connection, optimism...

Heart-full thank you, Rex, for taking the photos and for your open mind and heart!

Grateful for this dance practice as taught by my butoh mentor, Momo and the other members of Momobutoh who inspire so lusciously. See our collaborative blog here: Momobutoh Company.

(The above photos of bears are from the internet and I am sorry there were no credits to the photographers that I can share here).

dancing earth's rhythms

Heron Rises From The Dark, Summer Pond

So heavy

is the long-necked, long-bodied heron,

always it is a surprise

when her smoke-colored wings

open

and she turns

from the thick water,

from the black sticks

of the summer pond,

and slowly

rises into the air

and is gone.

Then, not for the first or the last time,

I take the deep breath

of happiness, and I think

how unlikely it is

that death is a hole in the ground,

how improbable

that ascension is not possible,

though everything seems so inert, so nailed

back into itself--

the muskrat and his lumpy lodge,

the turtle,

the fallen gate.

And especially it is wonderful

that the summers are long

and the ponds so dark and so many,

and therefore it isn't a miracle

but the common thing,

this decision,

this trailing of the long legs in the water,

this opening up of the heavy body

into a new life: see how the sudden

gray-blue sheets of her wings

strive toward the wind; see how the clasp of nothing

takes her in.

Mary Oliver

After being stuck in very slow moving traffic on the highway, I was relieved to find this wildlife sanctuary at the end of a dead-end street in the scenic Skagit Valley.

After hours in the car feeling rattled and unnerved by the journey, I was grateful to drop into my body and connect to earth's rhythms - initially the stick and log percussions, and then, ending with what felt like the rhythms of the earth herself, feeling so much sweet energy of grounding and connection.

Partway through the exploration of dance and rhythms, a great blue heron flew overhead, in an awkward prehistoric, flapping kind of way... which felt perfect, as this dance felt quite awkward, too, and reminded me that many of nature's rhythms are discordant, and there is so much beauty in the disharmony of it all.

Feeling grateful for this dance of connection as inspired by my dance mentor, Momo.

Thank you for viewing my blog. I hope it may inspire you to dance to the rhythms of the earth where you enjoy connecting to the natural world,

Lee

Music: Mountain Man (Thank you, Patricia, for introducing me to them) XO

Visit our Momobutoh collaborative blog here: Momobutoh Dance Company

don't fence me in

I was feeling claustrophobic in both my car and within my being, in that 'URGHH!!!' kind of way, after being stuck in a slow moving train of cars heading north from Seattle. It took me three hours to drive a distance that usually takes an hour. I realized the irony that most of the traffic congestion was due to the fact that city folk, including myself, were trying to escape to the country to visit the spectacle of the tulips in full bloom during the weekend's "Tulip Festival" in the Skagit Valley.

Not bearing to drive any further in traffic, I pulled off the highway to find my own personal space to dance freely within. I was stunned by the beauty of this wildlife sanctuary I stumbled upon at the edge of the sea at the end of a dead-end street.

While editing later that evening, I remembered dear Joni Takanikos' version of Cole Porter's song from her album "Love In a Mist, Devil in a Bush.” She is a beautiful soul who I met at a retreat, and also who I shared MomoButoh workshops with in the past.

The lyrics speak so much of what I was feeling earlier that day - my soul's desire to dance freely into the expansive space of sky while at the same time feeling an earthward, grounding connection. After feeling so 'soul-repressed' from the bumper to bumper commute, I felt so grateful to receive so much energy from our Mama Earth that had a balancing effect inwardly - releasing the stress of the traffic-filled commute.

Don't Fence Me In

Give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above

Don't fence me in

Let me ride thru the wide-open country that I love

Don't fence me in

Let me ride my cayuse where the west commences,

Gaze at the moon until I lose my senses

Can't stand hobbles and I can't stand fences

Don't fence me in.

Just let me sit by myself in the evening breeze

Listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees

Send me away, forever, if you please

Just don't fence me in

Don't fence me in...

This moon-time, Momobutoh Company is dancing with significant others in the forms of plants and animals... here, the connection was more with the elements of earth (grounding) and sky (freedom).

Thank you for viewing my blog. I would love to hear from you, if you would care to leave a comment.

Kindly,

Lee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGaOrYrfkBY&feature=player_embedded

Music: Joni Takanikos

Visit our collaborative blog here: Momobutoh Dance Company

rock steady love

On a Day When the Wind is Perfect

On a day

when the wind is perfect,

the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty.

Today is such a

day...

The living heart gives to us as does that luminous sphere,

both caress the earth with great

tenderness.

This is a breeze that can enter the soul.

This love I know plays a drum...

Peace is wonderful,

but ecstatic dance is more fun...

On a day when the wind is perfect,

the sail just needs to open

and the love starts.

Today is such

a day.

~ Rumi ~

I love what the wind symbolizes - the winds of change, letting worries go into the wind, being taken by the wind... etc. Also, many of the dances I have enjoyed most in nature were ones in which the wind was a dance partner. I have found the wind to be such a good teacher in spontaneity as it is always changing it's direction and intensity - moment to moment. Many of the dances were 'buffets' with the wind!

However, I also find being in the wind very unsettling to my nervous system and after being in the wind will often feel inwardly rattled and mentally space-y. At those times I long to feel grounded and connect deeply to the earth to counterbalance those feelings.

In our last dance mentorship session together Momo suggested I practice with a large rock in the shape of a heart that was given to me by a friend. Not only to dance the symbolism of the 'heart' itself, but with the idea of using it to connect with gravity and the earth element.

Today was a perfect day to spontaneously explore my love / hate relationship to the wind and to express my gratitude to Mama Earth (in the form of rock) for keeping me connected to the Earth as I was being tossed about.

Thank you for viewing my blog. I hope it may inspire you to dance your own dance in the natural world. I love comments and would enjoy hearing from you.

Kindly, Lee

Music: Chopin

Film by Brooke

Visit our collaborative blog here: MomoButoh Company

sand love catharsis

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." Kahlil Gibran

The theme for Momobutoh Company's practice is 'Love and Family' this month and so today I felt inspired to dance with the heaviness of care-taking for my dad...

As my dad approaches his end-of-life, he has become more and more loving and open-hearted. As his body and mind close down and degenerate, his heart continues to open outward to his family in an expansive way. As a result, our hearts are opening more and more to him, as well - it is a beautiful exchange.

The burden is a result of all the the challenges there are in trying to manage his house and his care-givers while at the same time, trying to stay strong and be the pillar that is able to take care of his increased personal-care needs. It feels like during much of the last few years I have been emotionally drained by this responsibility and I continue to quest for ways in-which to nourish the feeling of depletion in my spirit.

My dance practice as taught by Momo has been very cathartic... a way to embody that which is being experienced from the depths...

Coming out onto the beach on this chilly, blustery day I was drawn to do a spontaneous dance with a large branch whose heaviness felt like a good analogy for the burden I have been feeling... and yet, it was light enough to maneuver, to trace patterns in the sand (including a heart around my beloved :~)... The dance of embodiment of burden resulted in a feeling of release and increased lightness of spirit as the dance continued.

Dancing on sand is also one of my favorite practices as I love how it is so forgiving and always invites a playful freedom of movement... and a baring of the feet :~) Feeling grateful to connect more deeply to the grounding presence of Mama Earth during this practice.

Also feeling grateful to share my dance practices with you all here, and to, Momo, for inspiring our connection and practices....

Thank you for viewing - I hope my practices may inspire you in some way - perhaps to dance freely with the Earth and her precious beings where you live,

Lee

Music: Deuter

Filmed by Brooke (my beloved :~)

View our collaborative blog here: Momobutoh Company

whose style?

"Were I called on to define, very briefly, the term Art, I should call it 'the reproduction of what the Senses perceive in Nature through the veil of the soul.'"

Edgar Allan Poe

While walking on this clear but very chilly evening just before sunset, I came across an abandoned building in the park that was 'trapping' the warmth and golden light of the sun. As I approached the building, a fallen sumac branch was laying on the grass, and my first thought was to do a spontaneous dance of connection to other via this stick... dancing 'stick style.'

In viewing the film later, I realized how much assimilation there is, unconsciously, of other dancer's styles simply by witnessing them - I could see moments of Momo, Misty, Carolyn, Rev, Melinda... within this short dance attempt of dancing 'free-style.'

I could appreciate so much Patricia's 'copy-cat style' post (here) - and through this embodied practice I was able to witness how I am a conglomerate of what I view... This made me think that, potentially, how we are also made up of what we hear, what we touch, what we taste, and what we smell and how that all that we bring into our beings through our senses becomes part of us and can directly affect our 'style' and what is expressed outwardly....

Feeling grateful for this practice of connection with you all! Appreciate those that may be viewing our blog collaboration - and hope that you may be be inspired to join us!

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

Lee

Music: Satowa