Text by Jonathan Homsey
Before starting to read this anecdote on how dance should make you feel good, please watch this graphic below and follow the instructions four times. I ask for you to use this breath as a tempo for your reading if that is available to you. If you experience any discomfort breathing at this tempo please gently stop and breathe at your own natural pace.
Now with this guided breath, I want you to visualise a tree in front of you in your mind's eye. With a soft gaze, I want you to hug this tree.
Hug the tree.
Is it a narrow tree?
Is a wide tree?
Let the hug of this tree come to you as you equally give the hug to this tree.
Are there any branches in your way?
You have just found the perfect space to be getting close to this tree…
what do you think of when you hug a tree?
Now place your hands behind your head.
Really rest your skull into your hands and in your mind's eye, look at the branches in front of you. Look at the sun peering through this tree;
I want you to trace one of the branches with the tip of your nose.
Imagine your nose is a felt tip pen…
outlining the trace of the branches…
When's the last time you sat under a tree and enjoyed it?
Trace the branch with your nose as if it was felt-tipped.
There is no obligation to go fast.
There is no obligation to go slow.
Come to stillness.
~~~
I never thought I would write prose for movers to experience being a tree. For years, I was only concerned with how fast I could dance, how many pirouettes I could do and how fast I could drop into the splits. Ironically, a modern dance teacher came to my high school and she asked us to dance like a tree and all I remember is how much I disliked it and that I felt I wasn’t dancing enough.
It has only been almost twenty years into my dance practice and I have now just begun to examine why I dance and why it makes me feel good. I was confronted by the question in Seattle where I learnt from different generations of Skinner Release Technique and now Open Source Forms practitioners. Open Source Forms founder Stephanie Skura gave the provocation to follow your intuitive body, something I had never thought of before.
We all have that intuitive body. Those moments when we are walking down the street and have this feeling to go left instead of going right. It is that impulse from out of nowhere when dancing with a friend to one pathway instead of another or even to go down a particular aisle in the grocery store.
This question of the intuitive body is leading me to a new journey on why dance matters and how dance can provide such strong reminders of the power we possess. I have solely followed my intuitive body for the past six months and I am constantly doing things that feel good to my body on and off the dance floor. As a dancer aiming to execute shapes and never felt satisfied, this simple notion was groundbreaking. I switched from the choreography feeling good before looking good. It shocks me that the mantra ‘if it doesn’t feel good, don’t do it’ has only just come to light for me. Training through institutions and dancing to have the perfect look for singers and agents, I forgot that dance is supposed to increase joy, not increase pain.
It has led me to have deep self-reflection on how much power we have to make our own bodies feel good and how by making ourselves feel good we can lead by example. Dance matters because it solidifies our power and autonomy over our bodies and our choices. We can dance to feel good!
I am at the very early stages of figuring out how to share this message that everyone can feel good. So I have made dance instructional videos, hoping they can lead someone else to feel good.
You could dance like a tree or aim for a triple pirouette; the best part of dancing is that you have the right to make that choice of how you want to use your body and that choice is always the perfect choice.
Delving into Dance, in partnership with Critical Path, invited those engaged in dance (in whatever capacity) to share thoughts as to why dance matters now… This text was produced as part of this partnership by Jonathan Homsey.
This initiative is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. If you enjoy Delving into Dance please consider leaving a contribution. Contribute here.
Dance was born outside, perhaps dance can return to outside? We practise in a community, by this I mean, in class, rehearsal, performance and in communion with other bodies where we seek to connect, to dispel loneliness, to find purpose, find tribe and belong.