We are here at Kirkland Farm in Pennsylvania, where DANCENOWNYC’S Robin Staff runs the Silo residency program for dance artists. Kate Freer, Paola Styron, Pam White, Susan Hamburger and I, putting together the pieces of Of This Body, in preparation for the premiere in June.
Today was the first day that I ran all of The Traveler. And then Mammal. And then a hot bath. Stay tuned.
The car is packed, ready to go to the SILO, an artist’s retreat in Pennsylvania. Pam and I will be there for four days with Kate, Polly and Susan, the creative team for Of This Body.
Meanwhile, here in Kent, CT, we are seeing the first sprouts and today a bloom! We moved here last November, and now the sun is unwrapping what is here, what is yet to be discovered. Like our time at Silo, unwrapping new ideas, new perspectives, new relationships. Stay tuned.
I love love love Italy (that’s me on the right). Which is why I was so delighted that Michael Moore’s new documentary, Where to Invade Next started there. Two years ago I had the great pleasure of spending six weeks in Italy for work and pleasure. What I saw there was what I saw in Moore’s film: PLEASURE, EASE, CONNECTION.
From the film, I learned that Italians have about eight weeks of paid vacation, + holidays + a 13th month of pay that comes to them each December. This and health care, education. When we were in Italy, we didn’t just see tourists in the cafes, museums and restaurants. There were Italians relaxing, eating, drinking, walking together and talking, smiling, not buried in cell phones, isolated, rushed and pissed off. I felt it in my bones – an ease and opening that is somehow harder to find here.
Maybe the most sobering moment came at the end, in Iceland, when Moore asked a woman to take two minutes to speak directly to the American people. She was silent, and then said passionately, sternly, that she would NEVER want to be our neighbors or live in our country, because as a culture we are all about the “me” and not the “us.” It was more complex and well spoken than that – and breathtaking. Iceland and Tunesia have recognized that the answer to many of society’s ills is more women engaged in all tiers of society, especially the political and corporate worlds. Women are hardwired (it’s in the DNA) to be inclusive, caring and concerned about the whole, not the individual.
Everyone on the planet should see this film. Especially in this particularly venal and ugly political climate. Moore’s work is nuanced, compassionate, by turns funny and frightening. Find a theater. Watch this film. Take a friend. Spread the word.
A Journey to Softness: In Search of Feel and Connection with the Horse
This is a beautiful book. 
As a Somatic Movement Therapist, a body person, dancer, movement analyst, I am always in search of writing that percolates into the body, that changes me as I read. This is his gift to not just the rider, but all of us. His view of softness is not limited to the riders hands, or seat of legs, but extends to every aspect of life. He helps us to bring greater awareness and “feel” to each moment.
Doing that wakes us up to a bodily relationship to the present. Ellen Langer, author of Mindfulness, talks about it as learning to notice new things. Softly holding my cup of tea this morning, I began to see how the light moved through the glass candlesticks and vase on the table as if it were underwater. I heard the sound of the dogs moving above us like little rattles. I felt the warmth of the cup moving up my arms. New things.
In my last Advanced Somatic Experiencing class with Berns Galloway, he encouraged us to orient toward pleasure. What I also have noticed, with my soft, mindful attention, is the tendency to orient toward pain, toward anxiety. It is actually easier to harden around those old, repeating thoughts than to sit in the soft newness of the now. Why is that?
Because being hard (hard body, hard mind, hard heart) is easier than vulnerability and openness. In Mark’s book, the reader will find help for all of that. Look and see!