Purple Iris

     As I prepared to move out of my home this spring purple irises bloomed in my garden.  In all the nine years living there, I had never seen this flower bloom.  It felt like a farewell blessing from the garden.  I enjoyed viewing it outside for a day in all its vibrancy and then brought it inside for a photo shoot at dusk.  I was mesmerized by the depths of its color with out the sun shining threw its petals.  These flowers would be a foreshadowing of a blossoming of my own creativity in this very home where I had felt so dead for all those years (more to come).

Symbolism of the Iris

http://www.sfheart.com/iris.html

“Among the duties of the Greek Goddess Iris was that of leading the souls of dead women to the Elysian Fields. In token of that faith the Greeks planted purple Iris on the graves of women. Iris was the messenger of the gods and the personification of the Rainbow. The Greek symbolism for the iris comes down to us by word of mouth in the form of a myth that was old in Homer's day.”



http://www.livingartsoriginals.com/flower-iris.htm

“The flower symbolism associated with the iris is faith, wisdom, cherished friendship, hope, valor, my compliments, promise in love, wisdom. Irises were used in Mary Gardens. The blade-shaped foliage denotes the sorrows which 'pierced her heart.”



http://www.dgreetings.com/fragrance-flowers/iris-flower-meaning.html

“Iris is unique among all the flowers in the world. It has the best symbolic flower meanings among all flowers, and it symbolizes trust. Iris has a mythical significance as well. Iris, the messenger of Hera, was bowled over by the beauty and colors of iris and gave it its present name. The messenger was actually hailed by the people of the world for bringing the rainbow on the sky. This was because she connected the world of humans to the world of temples of the heavenly gods. The use of iris to express feelings has become rare, but it is still apt for expressing trust.
The iris flower meanings portray the importance of someone's friendship. The iris flower meanings hail the glory of truth, friendship and trust. Now, you know the best gift for Friendship day is to let your dearest friend know with a bunch of iris, how much he/she means to you. Faith is an important pillar in our life. Faith in the Almighty as well as your dear ones is best captured by iris. Tell your partner that you have complete faith in him/her by giving an iris. This would indeed be an appreciating gesture.”

this image came from HERE

A Gift to My Self

     While I am putting this blog together I can feel pieces of myself aligning and coming into view.  Is it just myself that has a hard time really “seeing” my self?  In Nia practice we can choose to take a class for different reasons, for fitness or for self-healing.  I as a human and as an artist am often fluctuating in what motivates me to act, to live, to share.  Right now, this blog seems to be motivated by my need to know my self and for healing what feels wounded.  Funny though because the more I put the pieces together I start to get this vague sense that everything is here already, nothing really needs to be healed, fixed or found.  I wonder what will motivate me then, when I really realize That!

The challenge I gift to my self in creating this blog:  Can I stay present and creative with all of who I am, with all the moods I fall into?  Can I commit to staying alive even when I feel dead?  Can I stay in motion even in the stillness?

Are you a "Dancer?"

Are you a "Dancer?"
what does that mean to you, to be a dancer?
 

As a dancer, how do you experience the world differently?


Are you a dancer if you're sick in bed and can't move?


As a dancer do you ever not want to move your body? 


How are you a dancer in stillness are you still a dancer?

This is a question i posted on facebook July 28th.  I wont post the answers again here, but please do share your own experience with "dancing" these questions.  The following was my answer...


As a child I danced characters and clowns.  To dance was an act of play and exploring possibilities, it was a way to make those that I love laugh.
As I grew a little older I wanted to dance my sexy.   To dance and perform was to be seen in ways that were not socially acceptable, and yet when I danced that on stage I was applauded. 
To be a dancer was to be seen.
Dance became a place I could get away from the pressures of school where I felt stupid and small.
To be a dancer meant I new how to capture the attention of another by the way I moved.  I learned to enchant not just an audience but also those that I desired.  To be a dancer meant I had power and control of not just my own body but my body in relation to others.
In college I became more of a “choreographer.” 
To be a choreographer meant that I created with bodies.  I created shapes, and motion.  I expressed with bodies indescribable emotions.  I captured moods and moved them.
To be a choreographer meant that I was important, I now had something to say with my dance.  To dance became political, an act of empowerment, to express all that I could not verbalize as a woman. 
Dance became a tool to change the world.  To move and express for all those who felt unheard.
To be a dancer was to be a change maker, a magician, healer, and ceremonial leader.
To be a dancer I had to be brave.  I learned how to dance into hell and dance my demons.
To be a dancer I had to be humble, to open and listen to the energy of life itself in the trees, in the ocean, in a rock, in animals.
To be a dancer I learned how to become another.  I became a shape shifter.
And, I learned how to dance with another's energy.

And then there were the years I did not dance.  Was I still a dancer?  Even though I was not moving from awareness of my body, I was still moving energy.  Although it was not called a dance, there were times I was moving others threw space in patterns and an organized way.  If dance is about expression for me then I would say prayer was my dance.  Although I was still on the outside, my heart and spirit were leaping forth like a flame with longing, or knotting into a ball with confusion or anger.   Only now looking back, can I see that this time was an opportunity to know That which dances me.  There was time to be witness to the internal dance, the essence of my emotional and spiritual self and that which connects me with all energy.  
This time I had of “containment” of physical expression enables me to start to understand this container, this vehicle that holds my flame, and the relationship between body and spirit.  And only now as I write this can I understand that I am a dancer.  My response to being “contained” for 10 years was to dance like a wild animal.  I as a dancer needed to feel That energy that I am part of in motion, in Fully expressed.  I as a dancer, need to know god, other, life itself in my body and I need to move with it.  When I dance I feel connected and alive.  And when I am alive I share and create.
    It has been important for me to see how dance has been with me threw out my life, as friend, teacher, self identity… I needed to know this because I feel myself entering another phase, and I feel frightened and uncertain of my next steps, will there even be steps?  I have recently explored my wild dance and now I feel the question arising from with in, “how do you dance your emptiness and stillness?”  Dancing so often has been about sensing fullness, either of myself or other, but where is the motion in nothingness?  I know nothing; I am looking for a way to express that, and my fear of that nothingness.   And now I know The Dance will be with me even in this. 
So for me to be a dancer means I am in motion in this life, i honor and study the motion of life in all its phases.  Or another way of saying it, I honor and study the motion of spirits journey threw the body - and I dance it. 

To see a photo documentation of my life in dance follow this link
HERE