sage wind, horsetails

"Our kinship with Earth must be maintained; otherwise, we will find ourselves trapped in the center of our own paved-over souls with no way out."

— Terry Tempest Williams

On our way to the Dave Matthew's concert at the Gorge Amphitheater, I felt drawn to dance with the wild openness of the desert landscape which was filled with the alluring scent of sage brush.

I have always loved how the desert environment mirrors our own inner landscape in the way it makes you feel connected to spirit in such an expansive way. This dance practice was a reflection of my inner landscape and was also a playful response to dancing with spirit wind inspired by the horsetail-clouds in the evening sky. Spirit wind is one of my favorite dance partners as I love responding to the unpredictable rhythms of the wind's gusts.

Because of the dryness of the desert environment, garbage does not disintegrate readily, so I was moved to dance with dancing garbage that was caught in the sage brush. Today's practice was one of honoring the beauty of our diverse Mother Earth / Ocean....

Wild Horses Monument is on the hill in the above photos - bigger than life iron horses galloping for an eternity across the desert... a tribute to wildness...

I have been inspired over many years by the writings of Terry Tempest Williams as she has spoken so eloquently about protecting desert landscapes -

“Our sense of community and compassionate intelligence must be extended to all life forms, plants, animals, rocks, rivers, and human beings. This is the story of our past and it will be the story of our future.”

Thank you for viewing this blog... I hope it may inspire you in some way to dance in the wild earth where you live...

With gratitude, Lee

Music: Satowa

Filmed by Brooke

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

sprouting wings

Inspired today by the blue, liquid silver, silky sea... After finding two feathers that were similar, but opposite, in their coloring - like yin and yang, I felt drawn to dance with them, the sand and the sea. As soon as I put them in my hands to begin the dance, a plane flew overhead with it's engine loudly squealing overhead....

I recently wrote: winds of change a-blowing... strong winds... almost gale-force... time for sprouting wings and letting go into the current...

Happy to be sprouting wings at the beach today... feeling grateful for the beauty that abounds in both the light and the shadow...

Shadow and Light Source Both

How does a part of the world leave the world?

How does wetness leave water? Dont' try to

put out fire by throwing on more fire! Don't

wash a wound with blood. No matter how fast

you run, your shadow keeps up. Sometimes it's

in front! Only full overhead sun diminishes

your shadow. But that shadow has been serving

you. What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is

your candle. Your boundaries are your quest.

I could explain this, but it will break the

glass cover on your heart, and there's no

fixing that. You must have shadow and light

source both. Listen, and lay your head under

the tree of awe. When from that tree feathers

and wings sprout on you, be quieter than

a dove. Don't even open your mouth for even a coo.

Rumi

Thank you for viewing this blog. I hope it may inspire you in some way to dance with the beauty of mama earth near you...

Lee

Music: Chopin

Filmed by Brooke

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

dancing the earth

"Well, there is time left --

fields everywhere invite you into them.

And who will care, who will chide you if you wander away

from wherever you are, to look for your soul?

Quickly, then, get up, put on your coat, leave your desk!

To put one's foot into the door of the grass, which is

the mystery, which is death as well as life, and

not be afraid!

To set one's foot in the door of death, and be overcome

with amazement!

...To sit down, like a weed among weeds, and rustle in the wind!

Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?

While the soul, after all, is only a window,

and the opening of the window no more difficult

than the wakening from a little sleep."

Mary Oliver

Today's dance was inspired by the desire to connect deeply to my outer environs in a soulful way, dancing the earth barefooted... I was taken by the silken summer grasses and the warm, wavering breeze as the sun was setting towards the western horizon...

Celebrating the beauty of Mama Earth...


Thank you for viewing this blog - I hope you may feel inspired to dance your dance of connection with the magnificence of our planet ocean where you live,

Lee

Music: Claude Debussey

Filmed by Brooke

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

sun, moon, pond

That moon which the sky never saw

even in dreams

has risen again

bringing a fire

that no water can drown

See here where the body

has its house

and see here my soul...

the cup of love has made the one

drunk

and the other a ruin...

love turned my blood

to wine

and my heart burned on a spit...

Suddenly when my heart saw

the ocean of love

it leapt away from me calling

Look for me...

... the sun that hearts follow

like clouds

Hafiz

Today's dance was inspired by my last butoh mentorship session with Momo. For the last seven weeks (since I have stopped dancing / filming / blogging daily) I have developed a 'mysterious,' pretty much continuous headache. I have also just transitioned from my sun dasha, to my moon dasha, according to the science of Vedic astrology (from ancient India).

Momo spoke of the idea of embodying the idea of the headache as being stuck energy, and allowing that energy to flow from the sky downward, to feel the infinity of the blue sky within, while connecting to the earth.

She also had me feel from the inside the coolness of the reflective moon and feel how each eyeball was like an individual moon within my head... opening the windows of my soul / consciousness - to dance in honor of this time of my life embracing reflective energy versus the intense active energy of the sun (which I have spent embracing my whole life, it feels, up until this point).

Today on my walk I was drawn to dance spontaneously beside the pond feeling the brilliance of the sun, which felt interestingly too intense. Consequently, I wanted to embrace the coolness of the moon, the quieting of the soul, the slowing down, the coolness of the pond on my feet and legs... seeing the coolness of blue through the silk scarf, shading my moon eyes from the sun's intensity.

Dancing the coolness of the moon and blue...

With That Moon Language

Admit something:

Everyone you see, you say to them, "Love me."

Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise someone would call the cops.

Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.

Why not become the one who lives with a full moon in each eye

that is always saying,

with that sweet moon language,

what every other eye in this world is dying to hear?

Rumi

This was also a dance of gratitude for the beauty of our Planet Ocean...

Thank you for viewing this blog... I hope it may inspire you in some way, perhaps to dance your own dance of connection to our beautiful Earth Mama...

Lee

Music: Chopin

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

study in pink / study in forgiveness

Photo: Briana Jones

Photo: Briana Jones

I love you.

Please forgive me.

I am sorry.

Thank you.

Ho'oponopono

Maureen 'Momo' Freehill and the Momobutoh Company were asked to participate in Studies in Forgiveness, created by A.K. Mimi Allin. Many artists were going to be participating in this 12 hour long installation along a 4 mile length of Aurora Avenue in Seattle.

Mimi described her vision as:

"Why Forgiveness? Forgiveness, like art, is a process and not an event. As artists, we pave the way for forgiveness. "Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it," said Mark Twain and Dag Hammarskjöld said, "Forgiveness is the answer to the child's dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is again made clean." The artist sees, but can also make new."

As participants of the dance, we (Momo, Alex Kewitt, singer Jaie Livingstone, her 5 year old son Thomas and myself) didn't have a rehearsal, and were told just a short time ahead of the dance what the different parts of the score were going to be. This was my first time visiting the troll. What transpired was an improvisational, spontaneous dance / ritual.

Because the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico is so much on our minds and energetically in our collective hearts lately, Momo decided that this would be a dance we could fully embrace and embody. How appropriate that the location chosen for us on Aurora Avenue by Mimi was under the Fremont bridge with the Troll (representing our dark sides and our addiction to oil) in the shadows of the bridge AND who is also clasping in one hand a Volkswagen Bug vehicle (another symbol of our addiction to oil).

We began the dance blind-folded in order to tune inward to our experience of connecting to the troll within each of us - specifically, how we are feeling in regards to the situation in the Gulf of Mexico... fear, sadness, anger, whatever our experience was at that moment.

As soon as I connected to the troll (inner shadow) and placed my hands on him, I began to weep... It felt like the troll was pouring it's pain into me...

"What we must do,

I suppose,

is to hope the world keeps its balance;

what we are to do, however,

with our hearts

waiting and watching - truly

I do not know."

Mary Oliver

Photo: Briana Jones

Volkswagen Bug in the trolls hand...

The second part of the dance was accompanied by the beautiful voice of Jaie, and was an opportunity to embody compassion. We took off our blindfolds and danced our inner sweetness with pink peonies and fragrant 'sweet williams' that were handed to us by her son (the future generation)... Until, we were reminded of our addiction to 'sweet crude,' our addiction to oil...

We then embodied that addiction like junkies, looking for their next fix... guzzling the oil into our bodies and beings with reckless abandon... only to succumb to the toxic poison. While in our stages of dying we also became the wildlife that are covered in oil and are suffering from the disaster in the Gulf. This was most moving for me - my eyes were watering profusely, and I could imagine how the wildlife must feel with oil in their eyes and fragile membranes...

Photo: Briana Jones

All below photos: Briana Jones

We were, once again, revived from our hopelessness with the angelic yet powerful voice of Jaie and the offering of flowers by her son (the next generation and all future generations) - an offering of forgiveness for our actions. We joined together and offered a song of love and forgiveness created by Momo (based on Ho' oponopono, as taught originally by Morrnah Simeona), asking the sea and all it's creatures for forgiveness for our actions that contributed to the situation in the Gulf.

Next photos: Briana Jones

I felt so much gratitude to be a part of Momo's vision in this dance study in pink and Mimi's vision of forgiveness along the length of Aurora Avenue... It was deeply moving to embody our collective experience of the tragedy in the Gulf and to embody the power of forgiveness.

Two other members of Momobutoh Company also were a part of our dance today, but danced with their own beauty-filled visions from afar, in spirit and in body - Patricia and Rev.

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope it may inspire you in some way,

Lee

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