"The Dance is an animate composition in space. Dancing is movement made significant; technique [is] used to express spiritual content in intelligible form" (Armitage, 1969)
The Wind once asked a Tree to dance
“I can’t dance,” the Tree said,
“My roots are sunk in too deep to the earth,
my trunk too stiff, and my branches will snap!“
The Wind whispered to the Tree through the rustling of leaves,
“Where does the dance begin, and where does it end?
It begins in the seed of music, planted in your ear,
roots sinking deep within your chest
branches stretching out into your arms, leaves falling at your weightless feet
Your leaves shake and fall to the planets drum
each sway of your trunk, reacting to the wind of rhythm.”
“Then what about the end?”, the Tree asked
“It ends when the wind stops beckoning, and the trees stop growing.
But even when the dance between us ends,
seeds will still be planted, roots will still sink, and branches will still stretch.
Even after I stop beckoning, you will never stop growing.
And the Tree will continue moving.”
The Tree felt the soft breeze and knew that the Wind was true.
“Would you like to have a dance?” The Tree asked the Wind.
So the Wind gently took the Tree’s hands
and the Tree began dancing with the Wind,
because movement was all that they knew.
This short story was originally written for my Interintellect Salon, Finding Your Movement, which I’ll be hosting on July 17th, 8PM Singapore Time.
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