Reminder

Go back to curiosity, go back to love, go back to joy. . . 

Re-Genius Fiona Apple Quotes from The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do

Fiona Apple is a Regin-ius, Regina-us, re-genius...
She is a wordsmith, she forges words into poems that cut into your senses and make you taste, smell, feel and see them as she craftily delivers them into your ears.



The rib is the shell and the heart is a yolk
I just made a meal for us both to choke on

 I could liken you to a werewolf
The way you left me for dead
But I admit that I provided a full moon

I made it to a dinner date
My teardrops seasoned every plate

'Cause in the end I'm a sensible girl
I know the fiction of the fix

He excites me
Must be like a genesis of rhythm
 

permission to remember

I keep forgetting, and then remember from the rockbottom . . . that it is all about permission, especially the permission to be yourself, or at least the permission to remember to be on the quest to find out what/who that is. Seek it and find it and share it so that others have that permission as well.

but:
The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair. ― Walker Percy

That "everydayness" gets me every time, unless I am not in the time/space of the everydayness and then, the magic flows - over under around and through - me . . .

and:
Theoretically there is a perfect possibility of happiness: believing in the indestructible element in oneself and not striving towards it. ―Franz Kafka


*

in searching for the Kafka quote above, I found these sites and had to post these gems for reference (they are prayers):
Kanned Kafka quotes
http://www.kafka-online.info/franz-kafka-quotes.htm
Canned Camus quotes
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/albert_camus.html

Dance of the Demons

When two people allow their demons to intersect, they dance the dance of disaster.

Maya Angelou quotes . . .

A friend read this to me:

“Whining is not only graceless, but it can be dangerous. It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood.”

― Maya Angelou, Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now 

!!!!!!

Which made me look up more quotes, and I came upon this amazing one below. I especially love the part about the rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas lights! So simple and so enlightening. I must read more of this wonderful human's thoughts!

“I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life." I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
― Maya Angelou

and also:
“Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit.”
― Oscar Wilde

art

art is the metaphorical manifestation of real life.

art is the poetic expression of real life.

 . . .

Saturday Thoughts - A Wish

In the off time when I find myself again slowly, timidly coming out of the cave that my soul gets banished into every week until Friday . . . I found myself on my yoga mat gtting out the cracks in my back. A thought comes to the forefront of my mind: that it is a full time job in itself to fully take care of the body - to FULLY take care of yourself well and to know how to do it - to have time to do it fully, complete, well. (I understand this well when I am at Bates. Taking care of yourself there (and anywhere) is a fragile balancing act because squeezed out by the end of the day and you have to understand how to maximize yourself to optimal functioning for each of your responsibilities). Then I got a flash of hospitals and how many people go there to get treatment - for some reason I saw Cook County in my mind. The thought about so many people getting treatment while still trying to breathe on my yoga mat - made me have a revelation:

...what if we taught preventative care of the mind body and soul starting from early childhood, as part of the curriculum, as contextualized in the curriculum, as THE curriculum?...

What if people learned to be better, smarter, kinder to themselves at an early age?
Why does this not happen enough?

Also: what would the world look like if we were not self-conscious.

Today in Yoga

Yoga helps me remember that I love my body.


"physical manifestation of self compassion"

Quote . . . Eleanore Roosevelt

“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt

  

Quote: Max Ehrmann

Max Ehrmann


Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

tethering example

I went to New York to study to be a teacher. That is what I thought would make me "the happiest." In fact, when I sat down and had a talking to myself to figure out "what I wanted to be when I grew up", I answered that I wanted to teach at a University. It was great that I was naive, because I had no idea what it meant to do so. So I found a teaching program and I was on my way. It was in New York, but that didn't mean much to me. I just found a program and went there--the tethering. It was kind of a headless horseman decision, I was just so happy to make a decision having been flailing unhappily for two years trying to find some sort of pathway. So I tethered myself to the destination of going to NYU to get a degree in teaching dance . . . but through the journey of going to grad school at NYU in New York, so many things -zig-zags- came up for me. I met amazing people doing wonderful things. I met mentors who have changed my outlook on dance, art, teaching, LIFE! I was able to go to dance festivals, which opened my mind even more--before that I didn't realize that was available to me. And, I left Chicago thinking I was not a performer/dancer and realized in the process of living, studying and working in NY-that YES I AM. So many new ways of moving and creating opened up for me- even though I went to school to 'teach' I realized that I was a performer-- I got immersed in Yoga, Improv, Contact, Acting . . . yes I had done that in the past, and the seeds were planted, but it took a long time for them to sprout, and in this new, vibrant environment so much new knowledge developed. It might have been my time, late bloomer, or what-not, but I flourished in this space. So, if I didn't tether myself to the naive dream of becoming a University Dance prof, I would not have had my mind opened. The tethering to the destination, allowed for so many unexpected new learning opportunities and zig-zags to come along the way-----I am so LUCKY!.

The Beyond and Tethering

I'm not interested in the linearity. I'm interested in the beyond. Whatever your medium is, that you use it to find happiness in your life. That you do it because you follow your curiosity that leads you to uncover truths for yourself. The medium is not a means to an end, but an opportunity to discover and uncover possibilities and treasures of the world.

I'm interested in the richness of it all beyond just the thing of it, whatever the thing may be. I'm interested in the interconnectedness of media and uncovering how one is affected by another.  I value that whatever your "thing" is, that you use it to excavate and illuminate your truth. The doing to get to the 'work' IS the actual work that gets you somewhere different than the initial destination. Process over the product. One must make the product the goal so that s/he goes through the process. They are interconnected. In that sense, the journey is transitory. You tether yourself to a tangible goal and have a clear destination--but in going out and seeking it--the  path leads you somewhere else.  One must be open to the zig zags that come up during the quest for the initial 'destination'- that is the actual goal. It is about being open to having something fixed to attain, going out to attain it and on the journey on the way to attaining it, being aware of new possibilities that come up on the way to attaining it.

Today (6.28.13) in our first Bates 3.0 meeting with a therapist prior to kids arrivial, she said:
 "the exploration of the problem brings up the solutions"
similar to this idea of the "beyond and tethering." In this example: we are not responsible to fix the problems that the kids come to us with, instead, we should use this as an opportunity to guide them to explore ways to think about their concerns, and in doing that, the solutions start to come up . . .



"In every job that must be done there is an element of fun, you find the fun - and SNAP - the job's a game."

I'm very interested in opposites.

• "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." -Scott F. Fitzgerald

slight insight

A few days ago, something came to me. I wish I could remember where and how it did, but I can't get a clear location or space in my mind, and without the image of a location, I can't remember, I remember spatially. Anyhow, I came to a realization about depression and anxiety--about these physical feelings of intense emotions.

Here is my simple discovery:

If you imagine a time-line graph going through the body, using the body as "0" or neutral:
 The NOW is the body. If you draw a line through the body and make it a timeline, the imaginary line through the back and backwards is the past and the line that comes out from the front of the body is the future.
When someone dwells too much in the past, then those thoughts bring out depressive feelings, a sense of depression. When one thinks too much about the future (too far forward), then the feelings of anxiety set in. If one concentrates on moving the past towards the center, and the future towards the center, then they meet at the body, in the present. You cannot control past or future, you can only control what is happening RIGHT NOW. The choices you make right now are the ones that matter because they are the only ones in your control. Thoughts about past and future bring about those feelings because there is nothing you can do about them because they are not accessible to you at this time, so the energy to act just gets translated into depression and/or anxiety.
It all comes down to what is serving you. The body knows, the body feels, if you are doing something that is not serving you, then it will affect your body in harmful ways and make you feel these unwelcome (I think) feelings.

Dream Group

I recently was invited and joined a Dream Group.

Every meeting, there is one 'dreamer' who shares a dream with the rest of us, catchers, if you will.
As part of the sharing, we are invited to share in the dream. As the dreamer talks of their dream, it becomes a dream we all share. We are invited to think of everyone's dream as our own. And even within the dream, all of the people in the dream, are parts of the dreamer herself. 'Whatever you say about anyone's dream is your projection. This is a subjective universe, everything we think of someone else is a what we think of ourselves.'  This opens us up new ways of thinking, because it allows for perspective into what we perceive and hold on to. It also develops a sense of trust and empathy within the group because we are all connected to the experience by sharing in the experience.


 The answers are not in the dream themselves. The dream is a medium in which we get to unravel some parts of ourselves that need to be shared, discovered, untangled and brought to light. The process of sharing the dream gives permission for people to talk about things that they would otherwise not want to talk about or not even see as important. Talking about the dream "takes the charge out" of the vulnerable things that we need to talk about. The dream offers us up something that we don't know.

An Adendum 6/11/13:

 In talking to Kris, I came to the realization that the dream group allows for people to have access to more language. By sharing dreams and talking about them in a group, new perspectives get shared with each other. Everyone is privy to a new language that is used by the other members in the group which allows for more perspectives about one's own experience. By opening up to someone else's thoughts, words and views of the world,  the dreamer (and the others) is/(are) allowed to find new entry points into her choices, perceptions, actions, events and situations. This broadens the mind and allows for new ways of conquering the 'problem(s)'.

Sometimes, as I've said before, verbal language falls short of expressing what needs to be expressed, but sometimes, verbal language gives access to a different mode of thinking. Saying outloud or thinking "'take the charge out'; 'let go of the outcome', 'I'm gonna be zen about this'" allows for a change in the mode of thinking and yields you to understand and lean into the situation at hand.



Through the sharing of the dreams I have been immersed in many discoveries, perspectives, insights and magic. And a list of a few good books.

a few to note:

In doing the dream work: Kathy provides tips and tools on how to handle the world. This group opens up the world for us to peel and unravel.

When talking about the dreamer's dream, one is invited say (just about to say: "must say" . . .)  "If this were my dream . . ." ---and then provides the comment of what they would do in the dream situation or think about the dream. But I propose to take this a step further: into waking life. It, as the theme of this post keeps coming up, 'takes the charge out' of judging others and allowing thoughts to be heard from another person's situation without being forceful. It is like Liz Lerman's approach: "I have a suggestion about . . . would you like to hear it?"  If this were my dream . . .

The Four Fold Way:

1) Show Up

2) Pay Attention

3) Tell the Truth

4) Let Go of the Outcome

"Take the charge out of it"

-in sharing a dream that had some parts that were sexual in nature, Kathy, the leader of the group, told me to 'take the charge out' and to talk about it without the emotional and personal attachments associated. This allowed for a way into it without judgement or holding back. Taking the charge out of something that is VERY CHARGED allows for a clearer mind and perspective to understand whatever the thing is and to be able to deal with it. It allows for navigation through something rather than being stuck about it. Take the emotional charge out of it to unpack it for what it is objectively. This gives me permission, to let go, to breathe and conquer.

On being Nice--The fatal power of Niceness.

-nice is a way to control another's reactions
-niceness-disconnect from self
-nice- cause of anxiety

On Shame--The fatal power of Shame 

(I listened to Brène Brown's Ted talk a month before this was brought up:
 http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame.html)
Shame: is all that is wrong with the world.
Judgement to keep you confined in the world

The Should and Shouldn'ts imposed by others
Where there are no shoulds, there is a lot of potential.

We are not responsible for each other's feelings
(No obligation of social interaction-Larry Lavender)

What do you want?

Regarding Dreams:

a scene change in a dream indicated anxiety about the situation


Books and resources:
John Gottman
Carl Jung
Osho Zen Tarot
Goddesses in Everywoman: Powerful Archetypes in Women's Lives--Jean Shinoda Bolen
Dance of Anger-- Harriet Lerner

On Being Artist- A Constant Work in Progress

'Anything you say or do will be used against you in a future work of art'

I have recently emerged, or rather, came out, of the artist closet.
I realize now that the material of an artist can often be the reworking of life. That is the difference between someone who is and who is not an artist. (The real difference, because anyone can be an 'artist'--is someone who undertakes the act of creating, of reforming life to express their thoughts of life and share them with others). The artist makes the things of life the material in which s/he molds the medium and expresses him/herself. All aspects of life can be and is part of the material. The process, then, can become the product (or, at least, influences the product). It does not always have to be so, but EVEN the problems of the work can become part of the work. In essence, the act of creating a solution out of the problems, whether in that artist's life or with the art itself (is there a difference?) can become the actual work of the artist. That is the greatest creativity.

Creative work, is NEW, it has never been done before, it is NEW, that is why it is called creating--You are making something new come to the world to influence, inspire and portray the opening of the possibilities that one person has undertaken. Of course, with this can come great anxiety--of the unknown, of failure, etc... but the artist understands this and even with these obstacles of self or other's doubts, perseveres, uncovering the material within which to make creative work. The work is the work, the work of the work becomes the work [of art].

Inspiration can come from not being inspired. It can come from anything. Using whatever is in the life to share and tell the story of your life is the material. You are the only one that this particular thing is happening to the way it is, based on the fact that everyone experiences situations differently. No one really knows exactly how someone else is truly experiencing something, so the job of the artist is to express this and share it with the world in a way that will communicate it. (It also has to do with permission, giving permission to others, spreading goodness). Art is about the curiosity, values and the search-[and research]- about what interests the artist. I say that choreography is like cutting my head open and dumping out the contents and arranging them in a way so others can experience, and possibly understand, what is inside of it. It is a moving, living journal entry(ies) on stage (or whatever/wherever the venue is).

An artist can rework a problem into a solution. S/he sees an opportunity to rework a problem into a solution, sees or engages with the possibilities presented by a problem. There is always an opportunity to make a different choice, see beyond the 'thing of it', see beyond the linearity of the situation, beyond the thing of it.

What I am trying to say is . . . that the artist can work with the bullshit and make it into a thing of expression.

Empowerment

People only have as much power over us as we allow.

Empowerment, especially in the educational/learning/teaching sense (when relating/communicating with others), is giving people opportunities to learn to make good & strong decisions for themselves. It is not controlling or pushing, but about nurturing an understanding of the power of choice and making good choices. Empowering people to ask questions. Empowering to take care of themselves. A good teacher teaches students to teach themselves, a good therapist allows the person to empower herself.

If someone does something and it makes you mad, then you are responsible for that reaction. Instead, you have an opportunity to sort things out and make it a learning moment by saying what you need, by addressing the concerns, by teaching people how to treat you and what you need for that moment.

This is the review commissioned by Molly Mae on March 9th, 2013.

the website is:
http://neofuturists.org/

First Review: 

a review and re-view a room with a view for you

neo-futurists: holy fucking shit, wow. yes.

now for the long version . . .

this is a re-view. a new view on a review, a new way to review. I get it, a review is to view the piece again, as poo: chewed up digested and pooped up all analyzed and beautiful. Holy shit is what it is. and holy shit is what it was.

 an artist date with myself. a perfect place, its all perfect when you have learned how to be with yourself, but this was a perfect date to take your artist on, not that i believe in perfect, so it was pirphekt, if you will, and i did. an artist date has become a study on silence versus sound, alone versus company and crowd. the sacred silence.

that was the primer.

i must take you there when you come here! it is brilliant. they get dirty and grimy. it is theater of the self. 

30 plays in 60  minutes, gives it impulse, and urgency! 

its beautiful, and i stand by my first review, which was only a one liner because of all the feelings i felt and the beauty that it was, it is now hard to write about it. it must be because it is hard to funnel it all into words, perhaps the review has to be viewed in 3D, perhaps the medium is not the typing-email kind, but a dance or something, or a slap in the face, something visceral of that sort. to review it in this way, as i am feeling in real time writing, feels like a bottle neck effect between feelings thoughts and words, feelings of the take in and the words of the take out.

i give my fullest fillest recommendation. i am so happy i finally went to see it, i loved the circumstances. out on a concept, concepts set you free and give you safety. the concept of the artist date. it was a date  9 years in the making, maybe 29, or maybe 9 billion.

thank you for giving me the task of reviewing it. this was a lovely sense, good to let out the wild emotions experienced in the process, a way to funnel it out, even if slightly impossible.

Permission

Everyone is just waiting for permission.

Just say YES

"I imagine that yes is the only living thing."

e. e. cummings

love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places

yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skillfully curled)
all worlds
-e. e. cummings

some words, and dancing words

I understand, that I am not being understanding.
I understand, but I am not being understanding.

 “I really think music and movement — dance, you know — and literature inform my visuals. I think film is also based in dance. The relationship between me, the camera and the actor is always a dance.” These words come from this article, which has many interesting and informative words from Doyle on his craft and way of working/thinking.” – Christopher Doyle

Feb 24, 2013-Reflection, Forecast and a Quotation

This week has been a meditation on Murphy's Law.

Today commences 'The Artist's Way'--I have some thoughts. . . perhaps, I can use this as a space for the thoughts that come up during this exploration.

I was excited about this book because I discovered my own "artist's way" with remembering the power of Curiosity last week. Because that was my way in and I was curious about how others found a way in, but when I think of it, to follow someone else's 'way' is daunting. It's important to find your way. But I've committed... Julia Cameron, in this book, said that there is an initial irreverence and resistance to the process. And in a way, I feel like she is setting up an inarguable argument: "all the non-believers they get to eat dirt," it's ok if you do not believe,  just try and go through the process  . . Of course there will be resistance, she says. But is that how she gets me? You are gotten if you want to be gotten . . .at least I think so. So here we go, let's get a little messy. Give yourself the permission to . . .

Everyone is waiting for permission.

'Inside you there's an artist you don't know about . . . Say yes quickly, if you know, if you've known it from before the beginning of the universe'- Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī

Power of Curiousity

Curiosity is inversely proportionate to judgmental thought

Curiosity empowers.

my ideal

Develop yourself, so that you are fully happy, content with yourself,
so that when you seek someone else, it is not to fill a void, to "make" you happy or to fulfill some requirement that has been set in place by society (which, you are part of the society, by the way), but the meaning is to to enhance your being, your life, your happiness with someone else. You find each other in order to make both people's life better. You are not a better half, but a doubled whole, you are there to double the fun, double the joy with the other person. You are taking what you already cultivated and are in constant process of cultivating and you increase it and share that with each other and keep cultivating new knowledge, and in-turn sharing that with the world. That is my ideal.

Empowerment and Honesty

I'm interested in empowerment. I'm interested in being empowered and empowering. It is THE value. It is THE meaning.

And a reminder: I want to live a life of soft honesty.

a quote requoted

The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair. ― Walker Percy

AHHHH this is it! this is the stuff, this is the juice, the sense, the meat, the in, the out, the through and in between, the epiphany lost and found box. This IS IT! so well put, so tangibly esoterically clear. This is happiness. A constant continuous awareness and attempt grasping at the changing perspective-the constantly changing constant. The 'row row row your boat gently down the stream' the "No man ever steps in the same river twice"-Heraclitus
(there is so much to learn, and so the search continues)

--the quest for knowledge is the fountain of youth--( © 2013 RO, its c-circled)

Midnight Operas

Singing these homemade operas inside this house
Nobody hears them, except for a mouse
But if these walls could talk
They'd be clapping.

Best Friend

A best friend is someone who allows, enables, permits you to be your best you.

Quotes, Comments and Collections

The dance artist is a body poet.

A practice of efficient selfishness is functional for happiness.

It takes time (and patience) to be Human, and time is a luxury.




and here are some other people's quotes so that I will know where to find them. (I found them when I 'googled' the 1st sentence above, and this is one of the links that came up):

"To those of us with real understanding, dancing is the only pure art form!" — Snoopy

"When I dance, the sun sails safely through the night; When I dance, the future is formed by my feet; When I dance,the stars move through the heavens; When I dance, Venus shimmers the desert; When I dance, dust becomes silver, stones are made of gold!" — Cosi Fabian

"You have nothing to dance about until you are over the age of 30." — Bert Balladine

"Great artists are people who find ways to be themselves in their art. Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike." — Margot Fonteyn

"It takes an athlete to dance, but an artist to be a dancer." — Shanna LaFleur

"The dance is a poem of which each movement is a world." — Mata Hari

"I want women to be liberated and still be able to have a nice ass and shake it." — Shirley MacLaine

"If I could tell you what it meant, there would be no point in dancing it." — Isadora Duncan

"The dancer's body is simply the luminous manifestation of the soul." — Isadora Duncan

"My motto - sans limites." — Isadora Duncan

"The real American type can never be a ballet dancer. The legs are too long, the body too supple and the spirit too free for this school of affected grace and toe walking." — Isadora Duncan

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body." — Martha Graham

"I have performed for thousands when they found me exotic, the vogue, daring, but I have danced, at any given time, for about ten people. They were the ones that left the theater forever different from the way they were when they came in. All of my life I have danced for those ten." — Ruth St Denis

"Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired." — Martha Graham

"The body is a sacred garment." — Martha Graham

"The only sin is mediocrity." — Martha Graham

"We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God." — Martha Graham

"The body says what words cannot." — Martha Graham

"The body never lies" — Martha Graham

"Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart." — Martha Graham

"No one can arrive from being talented alone, work transforms talent into genius." — Anna Pavlova

"So be encouraged and dedicate yourself to your dream and if your dream should come my way one day then we will dance upon the boards of life." — Ben Vereen

"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music." — Angela Monet

"Without music, life would be a mistake… I would only believe in a God who knew how to dance." — Friedrich Nietzsche

"Dancing: The vertical expression of a horizontal desire legalized by music." — George Bernard Shaw

"I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself." — Mikhail Baryshnikov

"I don't want people who want to dance; I want people who have to dance" — George Balanchine

"And let that day be lost to us on which we did not dance once! And let that wisdom be false to us that brought no laughter with it!" — Friedrich Nietzsche

"There was a star danced, and under that was I born." — William Shakespeare

"The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music. Bodies never lie." — Agnes De Mille

"Never give a sword to a man who can't dance." — Confucius

"In life as in dance: Grace glides on blistered feet" — Alice Abrams

"All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing." — Moliere

"You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life." — Unattributed

"You don't stop dancing from growing old, you grow old from stopping to dance" — Unattributed

"Wives are people who feel they don't dance enough" — Groucho Marx

"With time, even a bear can learn to dance" — Yiddish Proverb

"Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?" — Lewis Carroll

"Who can tell the dancer from the dance?" — William Butler Yeats

"While I dance I cannot judge, I cannot hate, I cannot separate myself from life. I can only be joyful and whole. That is why I dance." — Hans Bos

"When you do dance, I wish you a wave o' the sea, that you might ever do nothing but that" — William Shakespeare

"To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking." — Unattributed

"Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is no mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself." — Havelock Ellis

"Dance is the only art wherein we ourselves are the stuff in which it is made." — Unattributed

"To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak" — Indian Proverb

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance" — Unattributed

"Dancing is the poetry of the foot." — John Dryden

"The one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing" — James Brown

"To dance is to be in tune with the steps of life." — Sasha Azevedo

"What's important is that I'm working with very talented young people." — Maria Tallchief

"If you don't do your dance, who will?" — Gabrielle Roth

"The only way to find the limits of the possible is by going beyond them to the impossible." — Arthur C Clarke

"When the music changes, so does the dance." — African proverb

"Sex in a dance is in the eyes of the beholder. I never thought my dances sexy. I suppose that's because I see myself with my face washed, and to me I look like a rabbit." — Gwen Verdon

The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.


It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.


I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.


I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.


It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.


I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”


It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.


It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.


It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.


I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.