by Julie Forsey
When you dance 5Rhythms, you are part of an international community of dancers, from funky free spirits who drop in to the occasional class, to soulful enthusiasts who immerse themselves fully into the practice, soaking it up.
If you are travelling, you can drop into a class anywhere in the world and feel at home. Because 5Rhythms brings us home to our bodies – so wherever we are, we are at home. And it is great to dance with a room full of people you have never met before, connecting through the dance and without words in a way that is beyond all boundaries of nationality, race, language, or whatever restrictions society places on our relating. There is an absolute honesty in the dance, a searingly truthful connection, a place where we can meet and be met in our joy, our fierceness, our passion, our tenderness, our sensitivity. However we are, we can bring it into the dance.
On my last trip to the UK, I nipped over to Spain (lucky me!) to dance a workshop called Cougar Medicine with Oya Moore.
The Rhythms are a wonderful way to travel. Arriving at Malaga airport, settling into Flowing, being aware of my feet on this new ground, relaxing my shoulders as I put down my heavy bag, releasing my weight down as I soften into the welcoming warm fragrant night. Being aware of how I am feeling, excited, tired, a little anxious about the next leg of the journey.
Then in Staccatto – action! Finding my way through the airport, passport contol, customs, (all these men in uniforms!) then moving quickly to the bus stand, realizing I have missed the bus, and have 2 hours to wait for the next.
This unexpected change brings me into Chaos and many possibilities open up. Taxi drivers touting for custom, some Swedish travellers looking for a fourth person to share their taxi, or a long wait for the bus with an intoxicated French couple.
I touch into Flowing to feel out the options. In Staccatto I choose to go with the Swedish people, and pay out the money. Chaos again as the taxi driver takes us on a long walk through dark streets to his car, then Lyrical all the way to our destination, connecting with these new people as we laugh and joke and tell stories to each other, gesticulating with our hands where the words did not work.
More delicious Lyrical as I arrive in Marbella and meet with another dancer and we explore the late night streets of the old town, hearing some fiery and passionate flamenco music, and then back to our hotel, blue and white tiles, flowering jasmine and cool marble floors.
Stillness, as I slip between clean white sheets – soon disturbed by a small black cat who jumped in through our window! A miniature panther – particularly apt for the theme of the workshop. A messenger of some sort?
I will be back teaching in Wellington in February, until then enjoy the holidays, wherever you may be!