Ecstatic Dance and Shintaido, Connecting Heaven and Earth
I had the pleasure to lead the intro/warmup section to FreeDance in Natick last week, connecting some central ideas from Shintaido with free form dance movement. (FreeDance is the “high energy freestyle dance experience” with live drumming by Drum Nomads). A central idea: use our movement to connect with nature around us. Even if we’re dancing inside a building, we … Read More
Haiku 1/22/20
Overhead with sword / cut across the sky to see /what’s unexpected (Notes: After a run through the woods, settled in front of Lake Massapoag to work with the staff, a series of cuts in front of me and above me, using the staff as sword. Sometimes amazing things pop into view, and as I was cutting through the sky, … Read More
Global connections at sunrise
Half a dozen of us around the globe decided to share the moment of sunrise together, lifting our swords in shoko — a salutation — as the sun rose for each of us on the last day of the year. And though it turned out to be a cold rainy morning for me, the global peer pressure got me out … Read More
Cutting and Blessing with Sword
One of the major themes in my life the last few years has been “cutting and blessing.” …Going through life changes, getting unstuck, using a wooden sword for my body to feel this. And to do the cutting in a way that doesn’t just discard the past, but blesses it at the same time. Anyone who has gone through a … Read More
Solstice Haiku, 12/21/19
Gets dark so early — go run around with a stick / and catch the last rays (There’s a feeling I get looking at the sky, and especially such a beautiful sky, that is more expansive than whatever is currently bothering me. Looking at the sky can be a way of taking care of myself. And the staff extends my … Read More
The turning leaves: Shintaido Northeast fall retreat
Just got back from our fall retreat (gasshuku), and some of the powerful elements: the theme “Gratitude and Grace” as we work through with our longtime instructor and friend Joe Z. his experience of chemotherapy and our mutual support…The image of the muntjac deer on the gasshuku brochure with the theme of “encountering” the world and the interdependence that can … Read More
The traveling poet: “Cutting Sky”
The highlight of my day: coming across a poet-for-hire GennaRose Nethercott at the District Hall anniversary celebration tonight…I showed her this photo of me playing with jo staff and sky, and in about 3 minutes or less, she typed up this free verse poem: Cutting Sky Take up your sword, felled from a tree which grew into the swelling earth. … Read More
First time with fire sword
This weekend had my first experience swinging the blazing fire sword, as they say, my “virgin burn.” I hadn’t planned on it, had just mentioned to friend Jessie Jewels, who teaches “flow arts,” including the fire hoop, that I’d like to try the fire sword sometime. “Let’s do it now!” she replied. So there it was, my first time with … Read More
Contact Improv Melbourne: connecting with community
I had a great time at the Contact Improv group in Melbourne tonight — it’s an improvisational movement I’ve been practicing a few months in Providence. And even though I’m still kind of a beginner, parts of it remind me of some of the partner exercises I’ve been doing for years in Shintaido, where you become aware of your partner’s physical experience … Read More