Tag Archives: dance

Excavating, Perfect Moment

Perfect Moment Monday: Hoe down

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We moved from the east coast to Colorado between my 3rd and 4th grade years. Of my early school life in New Jersey, I remember just a few things:

  • that our principal’s name was Mr. Schank (but he was really nice in spite of his unfortunate moniker).
  • that all the other kids went to either Catechism or Hebrew School and I was left out (I am still surprised that Protestantism isn’t considered a minority religion in this country, based on my early template).
  • that Dad helped me bring up a low grade in “shows initiative” by doing an extra assignment that involved soaking a chicken bone in vinegar to make it rubbery.
  • that we used to square dance in gym class.

I loved square dancing in gym class. It was the only thing I loved about gym class. After we moved to a school district that didn’t have square dancing in its curriculum, I didn’t square dance for 40+ more years (except for one of the first dates Roger and I had — a wedding reception for his British friend who married a Kentucky girl and that included high tea and square dancing).

This month our CSA closed its inaugural season with a harvest festival. My sister Tami and I took our kids to pick up our last share of veggies and to take part in the kids crafts and farm tour.

Little did I know I was in for live music, a Caller, and………..square dancing!

Fall square dancing

Son, Nephew, Daughter and I do-si-doing

As the bluegrass band started pickin’, the Caller rallied dancers of all ages. Not many grownups took him up on the offer, but I sprang right up from my hay bale as soon as I realized I was going to have the chance to re-create fond memories from my early childhood — with my children.

The Caller did not disappoint. He went on for more than an hour and covered a broad repertoire. Early on, I realized I was having a moment and mouthed “PERFECT MOMENT” to Tami, still with her baby daughter and husband on the hay bale, who, through sister shorthand, knew exactly what I wanted her to do.

Snap pictures.

I learned anew how to honor my partner, promenade, right-hand star, allemande left, do the Virginia Reel and Cumberland Reel, do-si-do and circle left.

In the still-warm early fall air and the soft pre-dusk light, there with my past and my future, I had a moment of perfectly square-shaped bliss.

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Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

On the last Monday of each month we engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join.

To participate in Perfect Moment Monday:

  • Follow Write Mind Open Heart.
  • Write up your own Perfect Moment and post for September.
  • Use LinkyTools below to enter your name (or blog name), the URL of your Perfect Moment post, and a thumbnail image if desired.
  • Visit the Perfect Moments of others and let the writers know you were there with some comment currency.

Once you make a Perfect Moment post , you may place this button on your blog.What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Visit these moments of others and share your comment love.

The next Perfect Moment Monday event will begin November 26.

(Cross-posted on BlogHer.)


Perfect Moment

Perfect Moment Monday: It’s fun to play at the YMCA

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Sometimes a perfect moment is a breezy, gradual unfoldment that lands on my shoulder like a butterfly.

And sometimes a perfect moment is a whoosh of bliss, gushing through my entire being, shot directly from the Universe.

This month I got to combine some favorites in many categories: activity, music and people.

The activity was Nia, a a fusion of three each of the dance arts (jazz, modern, Duncan), the healing arts (yoga, Feldenkrais, Alexander) and the martial arts (tae kwan do, tai chi, aikido). I love this graceful, expansive dance class because it’s less about doing it “right” than about simply the joy of movement.

The person was Ethel, the gentle and wise mystic whom I have known for 20 years. Her presence has transformed my life in all the important ways — I have found romance, I have reclaimed my health, I became a mother (twice) I live more mindfully than I used to. I am taking a year-long class with Ethel, and we decided, this March evening, to check in with each other at the YMCA over tea and Nia.

The music was by Loreena McKennitt. Nia classes are known for their world music, and Celtic-influenced The Mummer’s Dance came on late in the session, right before cool-down. We were spinning and lilting to this ethereal tune, expanding our arms as we opened our hearts. It wasn’t meant to be a trance-dance, but all of a sudden the blast of bliss hit me. Every cell in my body was dancing for joy, full of gratitude for having this body, this life, these connections, these senses, this moment.

With my arms and eyes raised to the heavens (or ceiling panels) I sobbed joyously. The light was dim enough and the music was loud enough, though, that no one noticed. I was both fully experiencing my bliss also observing myself experiencing bliss.

I wish I could choreograph these moments on command. But stumbling on them will do, for now.

Image: Freepik.com

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Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

On the 4th Monday of each month we engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join. The next Perfect Moment Monday event will be on April 23.

To participate in Perfect Moment Monday:

  1. Follow Write Mind Open Heart.
  2. Between the Sunday night before and the Sunday night after, write up your own Perfect Moment.
  3. Use LinkyTools below to enter your name (or your site/blog name) and the URL of your Perfect Moment.
  4. Visit the Perfect Moments of others and let the writers know you were there with some comment currency.

Once you make a Perfect Moment post , you may place this button on your blog.Perfect Moment MondayWhat Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Visit these moments of others and share your comment love.

Perfect Moment, Vlog

Perfect Moment Monday: Flash mob!

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I got to do something I’ve wanted to do ever since I saw this.

I went to a Zumba class at my gym on Saturday and found out that Zumbies from all over Denver were participating in a flash mob that afternoon.

So my 9 year-old videographer and I headed downtown, found a parking place and hustled our way down the pedestrian mall.  We got there just in time to join about 40 or so other mobbers.

Dancing with abandon in the winter sun felt exhilaratingly perfect.

Scratch one off the bucket list.

Video by Tessa

(Should you want to see from a grown-up’s vantage point, here is the flash mob video taken by my instructor’s husband. We flash mobbed three times along the mall, and this is the first dance, in which I still had a coat on. Tessa’s video is the second dance, where I had shed the coat and was down to a sweat jacket. By the third go-round (no video), I was down to a tank top. Good thing we ran out of mall.)

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Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

Once a week we engage in mindfulness about something that is right with our world. Everyone is welcome to join.

To participate in Perfect Moment Monday:

  1. Follow this blog.
  2. Between Sunday night and Tuesday night, write up your own Perfect Moment.
  3. Use LinkyTools below to enter your name (or your site/blog name) and the URL of your Perfect Moment.
  4. Visit the Perfect Moments of others and let the writers know you were there with some comment currency.

Once you make a Perfect Moment post , you may place this button on your blog.What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Visit these moments of others and share your comment love.

LinkyTools is having some growing pains. If you’re not seeing a way to enter you link, shoot me an email and I’ll put it in for you the next time LinkyTools is available. 🙁