A Beginning – A Session of Dance with Masankho Banda
Arriving into bodies, moving and exploring
Searching for graceful creation, co-creation, expression of a basic essence
Bound together in a silent stillness
A link of bodies; a container to hold the brewing emotion and rising kinetic energies
For now just make a picture; images of life Interpret or not, choices slip away
Bodies breathing, living, earthed
Each is one. Together we move beyond the one, Even to the point of dreams and yearnings
Travel begins and deepens.
Shadows stir,
Shapes form, embracing and drawing in the artist, the dancer, the healer. It is natural like wind stirring the surface of the sea.
At some point I am no longer within but without
Outside and witnessing a bigger meeting.
Pulled gently to another place I see and know with clarity.
I know each movement, I know these people; I am part of their dances
I move into my space and intentionally raise an arm.
Taking a tentative step, placing my foot just so,
The angle informs my body which way to bend, to arch, to turn and thrust. Off balance, I fall into a whirling storm.
Within the frenzy, something new stirs, slowly taking a shape It is strong, it has definition.
It is ancient and resilient.
It is nurturing yet asks to be held.
Hopeful, reconciling, hero-making, sustaining Pause now, holding shape
Listen; hear the sound of your breath. Reintegrate. Savour.
Let it go and dance to a new song.
by Robert Stocks