One

Happy National Poetry Month from Stance on Dance!

BY DELPHINE HSINI MEI; ILLUSTRATION BY CAMILLE TAFT

One was first written during an artist residency in Singapore in the midst of creating a performance piece. One day when I was walking around the city, I saw this old house with a beautiful mosaic, and wooden windows opening to the top, while a beam of light shining down. I took a photo, then wrote a short poem. It was reworked and became longer in 2020. I think home is our body. And ultimately, we are all connected and one. Dance is a gateway for us to connect closely to this home where our hearts stay truly alive.

~~

open the door and it’s light

open the light and it’s right

never am i searching wondering wandering

endless nights on the streets

foreigner amongst people

making home in the body

wandering

carelessly aimlessly

like a bird without a tree to grow her nest

like his mother

blind

still struggles to find home

HOME

to bend the body

in pieces

peace of the body

owns nothing but the body

this body

your body

my body

our bodies

bodies trying to find home in the dance

DANCE

waltz cha cha salsa and chive

ballet modern break and tap

bollywood kabuki belly and tango

disco yeah disco

saturday night fever

and more

can it be more?

MORE

i want more

steps slow and festive

sometimes swift and sassy

sometimes sweet and airy

like summer’s fairies

hummingbirds and butterflies

those dancing ladies

who are queens princesses and more

dancing their own tunes on the way home

her body her home

kind of sexy

her home

H.O.M.E.

dancing their own tunes on the way home

making the one her one

making the one his one

making the ones their ones

dancing their way home

~~

Born in Taiwan, Delphine Hsini Mei has practiced dance in the US, Europe and Asia. She’s been a resident artist at Cite American-Foundation (Paris, France) and Dance Short (Amsterdam, NL). Picking up lost shoes and conversations in the world and making them into various art forms have been her interest, as well as writing poetry. Her poetic works can also be found in the poetry book, Names in A Jar: A Collection of Poetry, and Raintiger Berlin, an online poetry forum. Delphine is also a holistic teacher-counselor at ShivaniSpiritDance in Taiwan, working with body and energy exploration, balance and healing.

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