Dance joy

I've spent a weekend dancing in workshops with two amazing teachers: Elin Kåven from Norway (who's also a Sami singer – listen to her on Spotify and see her MySpace for song and dance delight) and Dud Muurmand from Denmark. To say that it's been inspiring is an understatement. I love dancing for new teachers, to experience their energy, their thoughts and choreographies, and to learn from many different dancers. To me, that's an essential part of the learning process, or should I say the growth process of becoming and being a dancer. It's a constant growing and learning, practising and drilling the techniques while finding myself (or my Self) in the dance to make the steps mine, to conquer the mystery of dance, of the union between music, movement and emotion for myself. I'm always wary of mimicking someone else, of being one of those unoriginal dancers who copy someone else's style instead of fusing inspirations with something of their own. And I realise that I am, albeit slowly and hesitantly, finding a place for myself in the dance. In the magical wonderland that is Tribal dance.

Actually, the weekend started on Friday, with a tribal fusion show at the Museum of World Culture here in Gothenburg. It was great and showed the huge span of the tribal fusion genre, and was in itself inspiring. Then I did a combinations/choreography workshop for Elin, which gave me some nice new ideas of how to work with steps. What is even more inspiring with Elin is how she has brought her Sami culture into tribal fusion. I've never thought of exploring Sami music for dance, even though my Sami ancestry calls to me. Not as loudly as my Priestess calling, but it's present, and has been for years. And eventually, I will have to explore it. I've seen myself dancing, strong, grounded and very close to nature in a place that I know is somewhere up north, I just don't know where. One of my guides is a small, Sami noaidi, whom I know as Rana and whose presence I have felt strongly during healing sessions, when she beats her drum and mutters softly to herself. I know there is something there, just out of reach, and perhaps it is through dance I will find the path into the lands of my ancestors.

Yesterday afternoon I did a dramatic workshop for Dud, and with my drama background and desire to tell stories, express myself and touch people through all of the creative things I do, it was of course wonderful. I wouldn't say pure pleasure, because going as deep as you do in dramatic workshops in order to access the deep emotions, is often more a challenge than a pleasure. But I love it ♥ I'm not always comfortable speaking about how I feel, or showing it to people, but in dance I do. It's easier to express in movements than in words.

The workshop today was on gypsy fusion, and wow! I absolutely ♥ ♥ ♥ it!!! I love the expressiveness, the grounding, the drama, the storytelling. Very, very inspiring. And together with the other workshops I have found the joy of dancing again. This weekend couldn't have come at a better time. For a few weeks now, I've been struggling with the motivation for dancing, having no inspiration whatsoever and questioning whether I should go on dancing at all. Hitting a plateau, sure, we all do it, but this felt like going backwards. I'm still not a particularly good dancer, but now I feel like I've got a vision and focus again. It's still a long way to getting up on stage and performing, but I'm working for it again.

Dance is life. And dance connects the dots in my life in such a magnificent way.