Dancing heart

 

"It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance." ~ Bette Midler

I've always known that I was a dancer....

and i will update this later... i just got done bingeing on a boatload of awesome art & dance quotes, am feeling that line between nausea & ecstasy from this overload and will soon be needing to regurgitate, blow chunks, heave, ralph, spew....oh, sorry, got carried away, see, my kids are both sick with a virus so I've got vomit on the brain... ahem. I will soon need to share these wonderful quotes with you. thank you. later.

ok, maybe just a few spit-ups:

"He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying." -Nietzschke

"It takes an athlete to dance, but an artist to be a dancer." -(unknown)

"Dancers are the athletes of God." -Albert Einstein

"Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music." -Nietzsche

So I've always known I was a dancer. Unfortunately we couldn't afford formal dance training when I was a kid, so it wasn't until I went to college that I really began to chisel my already formed block of stone into a dancer. The artist-dancer was already inside, but the athlete-dancer had yet to be created. Dance became more than the consumer of my time and finances; it became an obsession. Spent most my classroom hours in the campus dance studio, while keeping my education major just to please the parents, keep up the "practical" side.. Dreamed of it, read the biographies of all the great modern dance pioneers like Martha Graham, Isadora Duncan, Twyla Tharpe, Alvin Ailey. Auditioned and performed a little in college theater, finally graduated....after 6-and-a-half-years. Had to face the fact that starting dance so late meant little chance of a performing career but still opportunities in dance education. Taught at a few dance studios, ballet, jazz, ballroom, modern,...then for a few years full-time in the public schools. My real dance passion was fulfilled when I found a dance ministry at my church, where my love for dance combined with my spiritual passion. Dancing with the group was very satisfying, but the real highlight came when my pastor's wife asked me to choreograph and dance a solo at their youth camp! It was to a song by Nicole Nordman, I think, forget which one, maybe it was someone else? Anyway, I really poured my heart into that piece, made it my own, and felt so much love and freedom performing it that night. Loved the response of all the sweet little girls at the camp. Could've stuffed them into my duffel bag and started a dance school with them all. What really threw me for a loop was when one of the musicians of the worship team told me afterwards, that my dance brought tears to his eyes. whoa, didn't know how to respond to that, so i laughed it off, sort of rude, i know. But that's what dance or any kind of art is supposed to do. Draw out the tears, make your heart vulnerable to breaking. I miss that. I need to find my niche in art again, so I can keep on breaking my heart in a socially acceptable form. That's why I love the quote at the top of this page by Bette Midler:

"It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance."

Gotta keep dancing.

and that's my hiccup for now... :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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