how do i take a simple movement and make it authentically my own, infuse it with meaning and emotion. a simple step can be infused with love, hatred, sadness... anything. teacher is giving us all the same choreography to infuse with the meaning of four lines from a poem of our choice. how do i fuse my body with the music so that there is no separation between music and jiling. my dance is the music, is my body. how do i establish rapport with each new partner i dance with. we all know the same choreography but express it in different ways. how do i remain patient with both myself and others as our expressions push against each other. how do i be less self critical in front of the mirror, and authentically say a loving "thank you" to my body as we pat ourselves down at the end of each class. teacher says that pain is good. he says is a certain movement gives us pain, then keep on doing that movement until the pain leaves. he says that if there is pain, then it means we need to keep on doing it. there is an obvious feeling between good pain and bad pain, and i feel like i can push myself more. i don't yet know my body's limits, but i do know that i am growing marshmallow soft here in the big city, and i don't like it. i feel most alive when i am getting lost in the mountains, clambering up big rocks, sloshing about barefoot and sticky in mud, following all the mnyriad patterns and twists of rivers and waterfalls, and carefully poking my way through bamboo forests filled with spikes and snakes. how do i place this passion and life-force into my body expression? am choreographing a five minute dance piece that i want to be fully infused with jiling life energy, desert energy, forest energy, and a story that everyone can identify with.
