A Dance with Nature.
Dance.
- Dance is a love letter to movement and human nature in all its form. It is the view of a valley from the top of a mountain that is so beautiful it takes our breath away.
- Our minds are like flowers that can only open when the time is right, but we must never let weeds cast a shadow on the flowers in our garden.
- Our senses come alive with the energy of spring’s blooming fragrance when standing near ancient oaks and redwoods as we feel calm and quiet within us.
- Opening our heart and spirit to the nourishment around us and sending out our intentions for a new day.
Nature.
- As we walk into the wilderness and look around to choose a natural element that draws to us. Visually noticing everything about it: size, texture, patterns, solidness and fragility.
- We become conscious of the presence of this life form and acknowledge it. Like a dancing partner, we feel our energetic relationship with this partner.
- Nature offers us freedom and playfulness reminiscent of our childhood, and uninhibited use of our body movement in an unapologetically way through our environment.
- Air reminds us of our vitality, our breath and the flow of energy required to fill space with full-bodied expression.
- Working in rocky terrains brings our awareness to the strength and versatility of bone and our body’s capacity for endurance and stability.
- The relationships we develop with landscape shift can shape us, heal us and offer us a sense of self and significance.
- Rainforest is a flourishing habitat, full of many types of plants and animals, and when the sun sets over a lake, its orange light dazzlingly hits the mountains as we watch the baby ducklings follow their mother to the river as captivating clouds slide over the bright blue sky.
Movement.
- Movement is a unique opportunity to feel whole and in dialogue with the world through receiving the moment-by-moment changing form of our body.
- When our impetus to dance comes from explorations of our surroundings, it can demonstrate the value of our relationship with art and nature.
- With minimal words, we are guided to touch, smell and listen to specific elements around us. Our hands touch the texture of tree bark, and rockfall unto our palm, allowing us time to investigate each experience.
- Movement is like a beautiful flower blooming in the sunshine that can be easy to walk by unnoticed, but for those who stop to enjoy her elegance and grace their day becomes brighter.
- Our human tendency is to be moved by nature, to have psychological uplifting or even spiritually meaningful experiences when we feel connected to our natural world.
- Movement creates Endocannabinoids which are chemicals in our brain that decrease pain, improve mood, and set off positive neurotransmitters like dopamine and endorphins.
Culture.
- Imagine a world in which we frequently move, meditate, dance in parks and gardens and on beaches and mountains.
- In this world, our relationship with nature would be an integral part of ourselves and our bodies. We open our heart, spirit, mind and let our body and intuition lead our movements and follow our impulses and creativity.
- Even in busy and exhausting times, a few minutes outside each morning offers a lifesaving, day-centring relief. Imagine gulping in the whole garden through our breath, our eyes, and our pores.
- Gathering energy through dance movements. Saluting the sun or stretching out a few of our aches from the previous day’s activities.
- Moving in the wild is in our bones. Our indigenous ancestors danced in rituals to celebrate all aspects of life: birth, death, harvest and rites of passage.
- They communicated with the spirits of the land and moved with these spirits in ceremonies. The gentle breeze from the wilderness is the music from the earth’s lips that is spoken without words.
- Our bodies and nervous systems thrive in connecting with the infinite diversity of plants, rocks and water. Environmental novelty wakes up our senses and inspires us to get out of our mental cages to see life beyond our screens.
- Noticing the sensations waking up in our body as we connect to this being: a heart softening, weightiness or arms wanting to stretch.
Attitude.
- Apart from dancing at festivals and concerts, we are usually inside a home, club or studio. Most of our movement practices take place within four walls, cut off from the sky, earth and natural surroundings.
- What if we radically shifted our view of movement practices to include connecting to nature as an essential healing ingredient?
- A tree remains motionless until a breath of wind greets her and sings her leaves to flutter their stillness.
- We sit and breathe until a deeper breath sings us to dance and our fingers flutter and our limbs sway as we let the subtle or expansive movements evolve naturally in response to these sensations.
- A walk into an outdoor area with a variety of plants, rocks, and natural elements with our eyes closed and our hands wandering around for safety and guidance.
- When we feel satisfied with our dance, we must make sure to thank our partner, knowing we can come back to carry on with this experience within us.
Dancers are made, not born. However great our innate attributes are, we don’t become dancers overnight.
It is the movement of our body rhythmically, usually to music and within a given space, to express an idea or emotion, release energy, or simply take delight in the movement itself to create beauty through our bodies with intuitive awareness, and grace.
Therefore, feel the music, understand it, and put the dance with nature on fire with your moves.