Day 18

The teacher steps into the center of the room, the same one from Day 11. She’s in a long black top that goes all the way down to her knees. Where is she taking us today?

“Feel you are a skeleton.”

Evidently a graveyard.

In my seventh grade homeroom, a skeleton hung  next to the chalkboard.

I am that skeleton.

“Feel wind is blowing through your skeleton, moving you gently.”

Movement emerges from my body. Unpredictable. Like the Brownian motion that I learned in seventh grade biology, the random motion of particles suspended in fluid.

It feels spooky.

Where is the movement emerging from? Inside? Outside? Other?

“Feel air blow through your bones.”

Air blows through my arms, legs, and spine. My skeleton undulates like a heavy wind chime.

“Do not put in effort. Let your skeleton be moved by the wind.”

My mind does not like this.

“Layer texture on top of your skeleton. Add flesh.”

I move differently than I’ve ever moved before. I feel uncomfortable… exposed...

Vulnerable.

Jesus, is this what dancers feel on stage?

It feels terrifying.

And amazing.

“Don’t move consciously… let the wind move you.”

I see where this is going.

This feeling of being moved by the wind… this beginning of movement... call it gut, intuition, or creative spark…. it’s the moment when dance emerges from within.