How to dance with a Tree
from right where you are
The Trees are always dancing and are generous partners.
Here are a few pathways into a dance with the next Tree that calls you in. Consider these gentle possibilities to play and experiment with, to try on in no particular order. Seated, laying down, from inside your home or office building, on a blanket, barefoot, in shade, sun, or rain. Any Tree, any day will do.
How to dance with a Tree
Maybe you two are already dancing. Meander around his root system. Gaze at her new growth and color.
Feel the Tree underneath you and above you. You are surrounded, this building is surrounded, more so than you can see. Roots and branches. Let yourself be enveloped, sheltered, protected.
Sense your edges. Feet on the ground. Clothes on your skin. Wind surrounding you. Locate your body and Tree body in space. Feel the quality of air or material that is between you two.
Wiggle your toes. Feel roots sprout from them into the dark moist earth. Knees soft. Your roots tether you and free you to sway. The crown of your head easefully reaches to the sky. There’s a little waver, the continuous negotiation of joints and weight and balance that keep you vertical.
Take in your Tree partner with a wide lens. See their wholeness. Their width and height. Witness the entirety of their movement. Remember where they came from (a seed). Remember where you came from (the bathroom, the suburb, the womb).
Focus on the littlest of branches, or maybe a singular leaf. What shapes do they make? Share a distanced duet with each other.
Offer a hand to Tree, palm open. Pause and feel the air between you two. Slowly move closer until you just make contact, graze their surface as you’d brush the skin of a lover. Relish in this. Maybe, you offer another part of your body to Tree. Perhaps the crown of your head or length of your back. Sink in. Notice the texture of Tree’s bark, the compression of your skin.
You are a porous being, your skin is not plastic. Allow what you see and feel to influence your insides. Let the wind move you. Take on the creaturely habits of the next squirrel or bird you see. Rotate towards the sun.
Remember there’s a dance in stillness. Rest is a choreographic choice. The pause is beautiful. Tree is in no rush.
Exhale thank you to Tree. Inhale Tree’s gratitude for you. Repeat at least 3 times.
with breeze,
emily
Upcoming Performance
Next month, June 3rd, I’m excited to be sharing a collaborative improvisational work in Cleveland at the creatively repurposed church turned art gallery, Convivium 33. This is being birthed from months of contact improvisation research, friendship, experimentation, laughter, and deep inquiry. It’s gonna be a fun weird treat!
We’ll begin by doing some simple exercises together to heighten our collective listening and enliven the space. Then, we welcome you to witness our improvisation: an intimate, playful and daring movement and sound practice, to which we’ve committed our lives, and which we share here to celebrate the moving body and voice, the sacredness of interpersonal attunement, and energy and potential of this unique corner of the city.
oooh so tender... "You are a porous being, your skin is not plastic." and "Rest is a choreographic choice."
your upcoming performance sounds like such a rich treat! break a leg! (I want there to be a better saying for performers than "break a leg"... is there a saying you know of?)
I am inspired! Heading out to find a tree that isn’t prickly.