It has been 6 weeks since my surgery and I am moving better and better.
So I started to dance again.
It is a dance of a different in-between than before:

• because the restrictions are not coming from pain
• they are followed intentionally, prescribed by the surgeon.

It makes for a hieroglyphic type of slow dance: a two-dimentional dance articulated at the waist.

At times, I imagine myself strangely moving in the midst of Egyptian-like characters posing
on photographies of Nijinki’s L’Après-midi d’un Faune…

(I love floor work but since I am not allowed to go to the ground yet, I use my Pilates chair as a micro stage that brings the floor to me. You will notice in videos later…)

In today’s blog, I am offering you these dancing-walks
where you become your surrounding
and create in connection with it.

(Inspired by Donna Redlick’s work DonnaRedlick.com)

Go outside.
It does not have to be far:
my backyard works perfectly for me in the state I am and with time I have.

Observe elements around you
move with them, become them, let them move you…
Take a dance-with-your-environment walk.

Below, I am suggesting 4 different connective experiences of movement.

• You can explore just one or all four walks.
• You can keep them as separate poems in motion
  or mix them together.
• You can mix after each exploration or at the end of exploring them all.

Follow what you sense and feel. Keep it organic.
If going outside is not an option for you
start from pictures, sounds and videos I post for each walk
and explore an imaginary walk.

As you walk, let images, shapes, textures, sounds, qualities, rhythms… move you. Embody in movement your sensations and impressions of your environment.

Let them resurface to make you dance.

(Taking pictures or recording is optional – use them as support material if you want)

Choose (and explore with movement) 2-3 elements anchored in the landscape:
Become: tree, creek, building, flower field, ocean shore, boulder… and/or move with them as partners: close, far, under, over, with, against, away, in conflict with…
Take pictures of your selected landmarks.

(Example of dancing-walk with magnolia tree and drift wood.)

Choose (and explore with movement) 1-3 objects you can bring back with you:
Become: pebble, stick, kelp, leaves… and/or move with them as partners: close, far, under, over, with, against, away, in conflict with…
If you cannot bring the objects with you: take pictures.

Choose (and explore with movement) 2-3 sounds/rhythms/qualities/textures:
Become (with movement and/or voice): tempo of birds chirping, rhythm of the ocean waves, sound of wind, steps in mud or rain puddles, quality and colour of the light, texture of the grass or clouds… play with their amplitude, effect and location in your body.
Record or film them.

Choose (and explore with movement) 1-3 pathways:
Become and/or Travel along: bridge, bicycle path, street lines, cracks on a stone or wall, intertwined branches… follow their trajectories in space or let their shape etch within you. 
Take pictures.

(Example of dancing-walk with spiralling hose and string chair.)

During your walks:
Connect with the space and elements you choose in order to embody their qualities in yourself.
Move around and with them in order to remember them in movements later.

Then bring these bodily experiences inside:
in your home
and within yourself

To help you work away from the original experiences

1. you can write about them
2. look at pictures you took
3. watch and listen to your recorded audio and video footage…

One of my inspiration in my landscape walk was a magnolia tree.
Here is what I wrote after moving with it:

For each of your walks:

• Create a moving sequence from these embodied memories of the world
  landscapes, objects, qualities, pathways
• Play with the order of elements within the whole
• Then keep a final sequence you like and can remember: a poem in motion
• Loop it over and over again for a while…

If you want to go further:

Put all these poems in motion together

• Keep what you really like
• Reorder sections
• Add up from past explorations or imagination
• Take away
• Once again, create a sequence you can remember and loop.

Through these walks,
you dance your environment;
you connect with it through movement.
With your poems in motion,
you develop awareness about where you live and breathe:
the Earth.
– your own awareness by moving your embodiment of the world.
– others awareness by letting them witness your dance.