DANCE POETRY and SPECIAL STATEMENTS
"Show me how a community dances and I'll tell you if they are healthy or not"
Confucius
"If a dancer dances -which is different from having theories about dance, or wanting to dance, or trying to dance, or having within your body the memory of someone else’s dance-, ... if a dancer dances, everything is there."
Merce Cunningham
"I heard some when that dance is the first one of the arts. I’d say that from all arts, dance is the one that engages more the entirety of the being. The poet is not the poem, the sculptor is not the sculpture, the musician is not the music, the architect is not the architecture, the actor is partially the role s/he is playing, but the dancer IS THE DANCE. When the final product of art is the very same body of the artist, when all the research and creative efforts are solved in the own movements of the person who researches and creates, we feel in the presence of a full fusion of life and art, in the presence of the exquisite coincidence of the shape and the content."
William Ospina
Translated by Maria Naranjo (editor of contemporary-dance.org) from the original in Spanish.
“In fact, the choreographer would be the first researcher: getting out of the preexistent models, working on displacing the processes, giving oneself and others instructions that open to the unknown, to analysis, to the visit of operations and dispositions (like the Tuning Score of Lisa Nelson), trying new scores, exploring ways of improvising, observing what occurs and giving new frameworks to experience, isn’t this the very definition of a scientific act? Yet it is the very definition of a poetic act. Research in dance is first a research in art.”
Laurence Louppe
Extrait from the paper Notes pour une recherche en danse in Nouvelles de Danse no 26, 2003.
Translated by Maria Naranjo from the original in French, for contemporary-dance.org, the 13th March 2021.
"Talking about music is like dancing about architecture."
Steve Martin
Postmodern picture
Heart, gold, stone,
dance Salome,
dance,
decapitate my head, just dance,
with your divine hips
make me smile,
I can't translate my vision of the world,
your green eyes,
the clearest pearls of a murderer,
bring me closer to my death,
dance,
dance,
dance and be damn
by all gods,
just dance and
make my world
the best world ever
Robert Ravenšćak
"It has never been important for me to know exactly why I am doing it. The basic sensation is wanting to do what I do"
David Zambrano
Talk about his dancing technique with SNDO, 2009.
"There’s two ways of working with the body. One is when mind informs the body; the mind is telling you what to do. That’s one way of working. The other is when the body itself informs the mind; your body impulses guide you and then you do these movements and suddenly they become your movement; its part of your creative process and you’re able, from that point of view, to have experiences that go beyond words; that go beyond your conscious thinking, but are part of you. That’s the thrill of working with movement."
Anna Halprin
"The word dance comes from Sanskrit and means ‘desire to live’"
B. Haselbach
When I dance
I dance for me,
Silent vibrations from within
Rhythm of the unseen,
I dance for me.
My steps follow their direction,
My heart-beat echoes their sound.
Some say I dance weird: they call me possessed.
If I dance raw, if I dance pure,
If I dance whirlwind, if I dance the spirits within,
No matter what they say,
I know I dance me.
I dance for me.
©2001 akachukwu chukwuemeka
“One must still have chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star”
F. Nietzsche
The dancer
Once upon a time, a dancer and her musicians came to the court of the Prince of Birkasha. She was admitted in the court, and she danced to the music of the flute, the lute, and the zither.
She danced the dance of flames and fire and the dance of swords and spears; she danced the dance of stars and the dance of space, and then she danced the dance of flowers in the wind.
When she had finished, she approached the prince and bowed her body before him. The prince asked her to come nearer, and said unto her: "Beautiful woman, daughter of grace and delight, whence comes your art? And how is it that you command all the elements in your rhythms and your rhymes?"
The dancer came near, bowed her body again and said: "Gracious majesty, I know not the answer to your questionings. Only this I know: the philosopher soul dwells within her head, the poet soul dwells within her heart, the singer soul dwells within her throat, but the soul of the dancer dwells in all her body.
Khalil Gibran
“Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but in your living room.”
M. Schmich
The Dance
The dance I feel at my heart-lubdub
The dance I feel in my throbbing brain
The dance I feel in my pulsating vein
The dance I perceive in every cell
seems to be a part of a dancing ocean
where electrons dance into death
and where electrons dance forth into life
Who dances? Who? Who?
Dr. Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
“Dance like nobody’s watching.”
M. Twain
Dance! Dance! Dance!
An occasion to celebrate happiness
A movement to release pent up tensions
An impromptu display of rejoicing
An artistic portrayal of body movement
Dance –a rhythmic physical presentation
Danseuse’s display of delicate balancing
Diligence being the epitome of magnificence
Dance set to tunes surely mesmerizes the audience
Ingenious ways of sculpting dance movements
Incredible, the efforts of the choreographers
Imagination in excellent styles unbeatable for centuries
India boasts of a plethora of unparalleled dance forms
Cosmic dance of Lord Shiva in His abode at Kailash
Consort Parvati superbly accompanying the bash
Curious Devaas converging the area to witness the clash
Colorful are the descriptions of the divine dance!
Shiva’s dance form, Nataraja’s perfect balancing on one leg
Cosmic dancer representing rhythmic movement of the cosmos
Naturally inspires the dancers to reach to greatest heights
No wonder His Idol adorns every dancer’s home and podium
Lord Krishna’s dance on the venomous snake
Lurking in the sacred waters of the Yamuna
Leaving thousands of innocents afraid to bathe
Laid to rest thanks to the thunderous dance of the Lad!
Krishna’s Rasaleela in the Brindavan, the divine dance
Krishna replicating himself in as many numbers as the Gopis
Dressed in attire as resplendent as the magnificence of the Lord
Biggest dance event told in Bhagvatam is worth a thousand read
Folks! come in huge numbers to India, home of Dance
Bharata’s exponential Bharatnatyam in exquisite sequence
Kerala’s Kathakali a highly stylized classical dance-drama
Manipuri, Odissi and Kuchupudi dances full of grace and elegance
Dance to our tunes to learn to reach to excellence
Dance to your heart’s content to be in sync with brilliance
Dance to the copious classical music to picturesque poses
Dance to the graceful expressions of our sculptures in millions!
Rangarajan Kazhiyur Mannar
“Nothing happens until something moves”
A. Einstein
"I am absorbed in the magic of movement and light. Movement never lies. It is the magic of what I call the outer space of the imagination. There is a great deal of outer space, distant from our daily lives, where I feel our imagination wanders sometimes. It will find a planet or it will not find a planet, and that is what a dancer does."
Martha Graham
"Even with a lot of groundwork, and regardless of how complex it is, it doesn't have any sense if it doesn't become dance."
Merce Cunningham
"I have seen him stop people in class and ask them, 'Who are you? If you're you, don't try to dance like him or her. Dance like yourself.' He told us, 'Your own personal individuality is your most priceless asset.' Lester didn't want to make little Lester Hortons out of us."
James Truitte, excerpt from an interview with Larry Warren in New York City, June 3, 1973.
Taken from: The Lester Horton Website.
"The great mission of the dancer is to contribute to the betterment of mankind"
Ruth Saint-Denis
"If I could say with words what my dances express, I wouldn’t have a reason to dance"
Mary Wigman
"Great dancers are not brilliant for their technique; they are brilliant for their passion"
Martha Graham
"People have
asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose. I was chosen to be a
dancer and that's something you live with all your life"
Martha Graham
Visitor's contributions:
Title: BEYOND ME
By: Trisha Ferro
Away from me
I feel the pull
Push me out
and pull me through.
I lie in a space
of in between
where stillness moves
and my shadow rules
Spin me round
Down to the ground
Deeper Still
Beyond your sound
Play with my colours
A moving Palette
Colours of a rainbow
Fill my head.
Dance me deeper
into myself
beyond my being
beyond my seeing.
Beyond the meaning
of me ..........
Title: beautiful n unique
By: blu
From: Colin Johnson (blu)
I dropped beats on my feet and bass lines into space time, to find that place called sanctuary -a place where there are healin rainbows of red, yellow, pink n blue orange n purple n green mother nature theme! - pamperin me into my cultural unity tellin me about inner mysteries that im beautiful beautiful n complete that im beautiful beautiful n unique........
Title: Joy!
By: Sue Hodson
From: Rustenburg, South Africa
Dance,
flowing from within
Exploding up
and
out
A radiance
glowing, moving, swirling
a bubbling transformation from
stillness
into
life.
Joy Divine!
Title: Dance faces you towards heaven...
By: Anonymous
From: No location given
Dance faces you towards heaven, in whichever direction you turn.
Title: Dancer
By: Poppin Boy
From: Riyadh Ksa
I dance for laughter, I dance for tears
I dance for fear, I dance for screams
I Am a dancer and I create dreams.....
Title: For dancers.
By: Anonymous
From: No location given
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
Title: I will write peace on your body.
By: Anonymous
From: Japan
“I will write peace on your body and you will dance over all type of dances”
Adaptation to dance from the original of –Sadako Sasaki-
Title: Zen Statement on dance
By: Anonymous
From: Japan
Not speaking is the dance
Some things are better left unsaid
Title: Humanist gift (exchange)
By: Léa Donald MBEMBANIT
From: Brazzaville Republic of Congo
Dance is a spirit. We must make a human revolution by contributing to the world peace.
The contribution to world peace is the best expression of contemporary dance or other traditional dances in the world.
Dance for me is a moment of contemplation. I discover the world through my vision.
And dancing is the best way to express what one feels in the contemporary world. Because there is no difference, me and dance, I'm a dance and the dance is me.
Title: Dance
By: Annonymous
Moving with your feet
Spinning and turning non-stop,
regardless of how complex it is.
Leaps so high as the sky
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
A movement to release pent up tension.
An artistic portrayal of body movement
Rhythm of the unseen
Expressing my fears and feelings
Helps me get by day by day
Flowing from within
Translating my vision of the world
Title: As if I
By: Kaela P
From: Pennsylvania
I dance as if I have no other time to.
I dance as if my life were on the line.
I dance as if it is the only thing I have to do.
I dance as if dance is my life.
Truth is,dance is my life.
Title: Dancer?
By:
From:
It takes an athlete to dance
but an artist to be a dancer
Title: dance = express
By: Yash Barodiya
From: Kota, Rajasthan
Dance to express, not to impress.
Title: Dance: soul seeking enlightenment
By: BAKSHISH Arora
From: Self
Dance is an incredible art, which divulges us the dimensions of devotion.
Dives us into the ocean of peace, boundless and bare,
And bathe us with the essence of the creator
Title: DANCE STYLES STAY FOREVER
By: BLU OF BLU UK JAZZ DANCE
From: UK
Dance steps come n go but dance styles stay for ever sharing fond memories of how we do a step this way and that way.
Dance steps come n go but dance styles they stay forever evoked by ancestral rhythms shaping and cultivating how we style the steps within a rhythmic measure.
Dance steps come n go but dance styles stay forever, mambo jazz, calypso , rock n roll, blues dancing soul, lindyhop, rhumba, clog , tango, flamenco, blu uk jazz dance.
Title: You Danced the Day of the Dead
By: Edgar R.F. Herd
From:Massachusetts
You Danced the Day of the Dead
You danced lightly in
Slow graceful flight
Through the dark evening
Sprightly with
Quick-witted awareness
Responsive to the emptiness around you
You danced the day of the dead
And stood nearby
As we changed the tire
The ballet created
On the spot
Barefoot in the empty lot
You danced the adventure bemused
With misfortune
And yet amused, the muse
For an evening emptying
Into autumn
You danced the day of the dead
In purple pullover
Moving swiftly with your
Blue jeans indigo
In the white-violet light
Of the parking lot
You danced like a daughter of joy
In the tribe of all saints
Caravan delayed
Replacing wheel
Before moving along
You danced to music
Orchestrated in your head
In swift deft gazes
In the hollow city
The parish ensconced
In mass
Hidden away
Like a dancer’s heart
On the day of the dead.
Title: A DANCE OF MY OWN
By: Raine Alyssa Catalano
From:TWICE UPON A DREAM another collection of childrens poems
A DANCE OF MY OWM
Spinning and twirling...
Round and round...
A skip, a gallop,
A leap and a bound.
Into the air...
on a full head of steam...
away I go ....
on the wings of a dream...
to the special place...
where my spirit
flies free
and never a clearer
vision I see...
Harmony in movement...
passion and grace...
in a flash...
I'm a dancer
in a magical place.
A feeling more glorious...
I never have known...
than when I'm dancing...
a dance of my own.
Copyright secured Raine Alyssa Catalano
Title: nope
By: nope
From: nope
I started to leap I started to twirl and suddenly I thought I owned the world to relieve I continued to jump leaping falling and standing back up I had months of work still to be done but as of right now I was the only one the only one watching seeing my mistakes the only one watching seeing my risk takes soaring again took one more leap took off my pointe shoes and went to sleep .
Title: 5-6-7-8 W A I T
By: Tania Dey
From: India
Five six seven wait
Don't just start cause your getting late,
In a hurry you just finish to imitate,
Take sometime and find within whatever shall motivate.
When it is relaxing to be engaged,
Dive deep you will always be saved
You found something interesting,
don't just settle nodding your head,
Improvise and have your bodies lead instead.
You soon realise however you master your split, it wont matter in the story if it does not fit,
I suggest find your gift,
Cause that will give the edge to your lift.
Contemporary does not mean absence of traditional,
Its an advantage if you have something additional,
The strength you find in a classical, is a strong base so very foundational.
Go ahead don't fall in limitation,
you now know success is not an imitation,
Whatever is your natural instinct, do it without hesitation,
If you be open enough you will find mentors to lead you out of any situation.
Five six seven eight
lift your bod every time to celebrate.
Title:
By: Joe
From: U.S.A.
blessing or
curse :
such is
stark beauty
of
the ballerina
Title: Pandemic at the Disco
By: Melissa Drake
From: Uncorped Influence
There’s a Pandemic at The Disco
The dance floor is empty, patrons ordered to stay home.
The energy is stagnant, there’s no dancing to move it through.
Connection and intimacy with others canceled, resume date unknown.
There’s disbelief among the crowd, frustration and panic abound.
The dreams and downloads have stalled, replaced by doubt.
Negative energy is building, without the dance floor as a place to dispel.
The medicine of dance is thought suspended, due to the pandemic at the disco.
Thankfully it’s not true, it’s only a belief for those who’ve given their power away.
The dance and the medicine are within, the environment and others matter not.
The dance within is always turning, whether recognized or not.
All planetary dances and partners are transitory, the soul’s dance eternal.
A pandemic at the disco does not stop life’s dance, the pause a reset for those who choose to be led.
Rather than outsourcing belief, connect to the infinite and ever-present power source.
A pandemic at the disco is not an end, it’s a lead to a new Universal dance.
Title: Poetic Dance
By: Alisha
From:
E-Mail Address: hilndpuppy[at]aol.com
Before Maya Angelou put her poetry to dance, their was The Poet and the Dancer, Richard and Natica Angilly. They created "Natica Angilly's Poetic Dance Theater Company with Poet laureate man of letters, Richard Angilly". They have performed world wide and across the USA. They also created The Dancing Poetry Festival held every Fall at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. They travel as "Ambassadors of the Arts".They are sponsored by Artists Embassy International. A 501c3 all volunteer arts organization "furthering intercultural understanding and peace through the universal language of the arts". I am a charter member of the dance company and Vice President of AEI. Alisha Rodrigues Business manager www.dancingpoetry.com
If you wish to submitt a graphic with your poem, just contact me and send me your e-mail address. I will reply back and let you know to which e-mail address you can send the files.
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