Dancin’ Like Water
Professional dancers teach us about the grace, and beauty, of Posture and Form. Current science suggests that these aspects of our bodies, i.e., how we carry ourselves, affects our muscles.
Especially the slow twitch muscles we can retain well into advanced old age.
Some us remember our elders telling us to sit up straight and stop slouching. Lessons learned?
Habibi Lal @ Tribal Fest in Bucharest 2014 Habibi Lal @ Dance Life Fest in Minsk 2015
Kira Lebedeva has been a professional Tribal Fusion dancer and teacher for over 12 years, and a yoga teacher for over 10 years. She demonstrates what control of the transversus abdominis muscle can do for awareness of our center of gravity and our personal power, our swashakti.
DISCOVERING DEVI, ‘Impressions of the Observer’
Devi is Indian shorthand for the feminine archetype, the goddess of a thousand forms, who can be both benevolent and terrifying. She is linked as Consort, in the Ardhanari motif, to the Father of the Animals, who is propitiated by all dancers for his mastery of the strut (Dance), and for his Dance of Dissolution.
Rukmini Vijayakumar, is the artistic director of Raadha Kalpa Dance Company, and the director of Lshva, a creative space for artists in the heart of Bangalore. She is the founder of The Raadha Kalpa method, an educational system for Bharatanatyam that is based on the idea of neutrality.
Kodo – O-Daiko
The famed Kodo Drummers of Japan need no introduction for most people who have been entranced by the drum, a proxy for our heartbeat. As with all great artists, they bind us with their power and passion, and take us away.
Qawwali of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is a master of the art and tradition of the Qawwali form of Islamic spiritual music, rooted in the mystical traditions of Sufism. This is a form of healing with music, at the community level, as shown in this video – a hootenanny that cures inner ills, just in hearing. Some of the beautiful lyrics are captioned in English.
For those who are new to the mystical traditions, the constant references to the long sought lover (or Beloved) are all about connecting forever with our Spirit level “complement”, and becoming whole again. Think of agape, rather than eros.
Borrowing from the famous African American writer and activist, James Baldwin, this eternal connection is what allows the inner light in us to shine out from the cracks in our bodies, after we have healed from being broken by life.