Dancing with Eugene

Happy National Poetry Month from Stance on Dance!

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT; ILLUSTRATION BY CAMILLE TAFT

You and I fit

together in the dance

like two unusual ingredients.

We were both long

but your wheelchair was strong

enough to support our wayward limbs.

You moved every which way,

so many surfaces

to glide and ride,

you gave all of yourself –

your stationary knees

your curving arms –

you gave all of yourself –

your lap became my mat

my shoulders served as your pivot.

Did I give all of myself

with all my muscles at my disposal?

Were there any spaces I shied from?

As our dance went on –

like most dances –

it deepened,

but dancing with you never ceased to feel

like riding a razor’s edge and falling

into a pile of feathers simultaneously.

Given how we danced,

I didn’t understand the extent of your body’s history

until two days before you died.

Note: Eugene Williams was a wonderful dancer, enthusiastic friend and exceptional human who suddenly passed away in March 2017. This interview was conducted with him shortly before his untimely death. He is much missed.

Wiederholt - Dancing with Eugene for SOD

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Emmaly Wiederholt is a dancer and writer based in New Mexico. She is the editor of Stance on Dance.

Camille Taft is an 18-year-old dancer living in Longmont, CO, who has trained throughout her life in primarily ballet and modern dance. With both her parents as visual artists, she has always appreciated the excitement that comes from a collaboration of mixed media, and was thus overjoyed to have the opportunity to work with Stance on Dance.