Dear folx,
With the passing of a generous and prolific leader of the dance community, I share a snippet from Nancy Stark Smith:
"Tension masks sensation. I'm not already committed to a shape. I'm in the movement. I feel the support and very quickly organize around the shape."
Regularly NSS’s words were both about the logistics of an action and metaphors for much more. So, this sharing in the context of Contact Improvisation echoes in my tight grip on ambition/expectation/goal/ and what-is-MISSING from our practice (the tension or shape) and that it is clouds the experience and awareness of what is still and newly present.
So, in this last week-plus-2-days of the semester, I'm requesting, urging, encouraging, ALL of us to meet and move together via the two classes left. They won't feel like normal, they will feel like something else, but we will be there and send thumbs up, clap-hands, and waves & remind each other that despite being remote, despite the end of the semester, we have a practice that is supported by and thru a community that we have cultivated while doing something that at its simplest feels good - DANCING.