Tag Archives: horse dancing

Jan30

running with the horse

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Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling is the most beautiful man on or off a horse that I have ever seen. I do not mean “sexiest man alive” beautiful, but lovely in his ability to be with a horse – beautiful in the connection. His work with a horse on the ground is an extraordinary dance improvisation.  His movement is neither predator nor prey, but has a deep, grounded athleticism like a kind of running tai chi.

When I first saw this video (below), I thought how wonderful it would be to be able to run with Nelson, the formerly wild Mustang. So yesterday we went out into the big field and did our walking dance:  me asking him to move around me in a circle and then come back to me.  This is all at liberty, no halter or lead rope and in a six acre field.  Just small hand signals.  So far so good.

Then I  started running.  I wanted him to see me running, but not be afraid.  So I ran away from him.  He looked mystified, but not particularly alarmed.  I walked back to him and petted him, then I ran away again.  This went on for a bit.

Then I said, “OK, you run.”  I have been hesitant to ask him to run because in the past he would run AWAY and then our time together is finished for that day.  But this time he ran, head up, tail flagging, but with one eye on me.  And when I did that little signal with my hand by my side, he circled and came back.  We hung out together and then I asked him to run again.  And again he came back.

I am no Klaus, but I was pretty happy with that dance.  And Nelson seemed pretty happy too.  Two animals working  out together how to go and come back, how to run and be connected.  And all of that makes me a very happy horse dancer.

Here is the master:

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Nov27

a rave

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Ashes and Snow by Gregory Colbert

I know that this has been out there for a while, but I want to share it nonetheless.  Ashes and Snow has added an explore feature to their enhanced video.  I wandered there for about twenty minutes Sunday evening.

Colbert  has choreographed and documented dances with whales, manatees, eagles, elephants, cheetahs and more, capturing the relationships between species in a way that is excruciatingly beautiful, tender, full of mystery. The stillness is profound.  It is what I am reaching for with my horse dancing.

If I could have a wish, it would be to have witnessed the creation of these dances.

If you could wish to witness something, what would that be?

Oct16

a different kind of horse

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A new feature of this blog is that each week I am going to point you toward something delicious.  This week it is the strandbeest of Dutch artist Theo Jansen.  Many of you probably know about him, but when I saw this I thought, “This is a different kind of horse!”  A windhorse.  And of course I wanted to dance with it.

The beest has a sophisticated anatomy with muscles and even a stomach, with names like Animaris Percipiere!  There is even a rhinoceros beest.

What I love about horse dancing is that it is unpredictable.  I imagine that the strandbeest on a good windy day would give us a lot of improvisation opportunities.  And that a group of about 20 dancers would create a pretty interesting beest themselves!

Get the picture?


Jul26

What is Horse Dancing?

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from the performance at Equine Advocates

 

I have been a dancer and a lover of horses most of my life.  Much of that time was in fact an out of body experience.  Years of dance training meant pushing the body, often with very little awareness of what my own body was telling me about pain and limitation.  My body was a first of all a vehicle for dancing – I expected it to work.   When I found myself hungering to dance with horses, not just ride them, but draw together my two great passions – horses and dance – I discovered to my surprise that it was the horses that brought me most deeply into my body.  By learning to communicate clearly with them through the shared language of movement and touch, I also learned how to live more fully and attentively in my own body. Horse Dancing bridges my experiences with horses and my lifelong practice as a mover.  It is about what horses can teach us about the wild and subtle language of the body.