It Feels Wrong to Dance
BY KATIE FLASHNER, a.k.a. The Girl with the Tree Tattoo; ILLUSTRATION BY SARAH GROTH
It feels wrong to dance
when there are people out there
who prioritize weapons over the welfare
of their children,
Who choke on power and greed
while the rest of us struggle to breathe.
It feels wrong to dance
on the graves of the thousands of people
who die daily
from war,
from hate,
from fear gone viral.
It feels wrong to dance
when respect for ourselves,
our neighbors,
our country
has been reduced to a sad, tattered rag
flapping in the wind.
It feels wrong to dance
on the surface of a planet
that has done everything it can
to support and nurture us,
and that we have only deceived and decimated.
Who are we to dance?
When so many can’t walk
or run
or sleep
without being targeted.
Who are we to dance?
When so many can’t safely leave their homes,
and so many others don’t have homes to leave.
Who are we to feel the joy that comes
when movement meets music
and creates magic?
It feels so wrong to dance,
to float across the floor to a beautiful melody
when there is so much chaos, darkness
and ugliness in the world.
Maybe that’s the point.
Maybe dance is the antidote to this poison,
a light in the darkness.
When you dance, you can’t scream hateful rhetoric.
You can’t throw rocks or blame.
You can’t break windows or bones.
Your anger is channeled
and transformed into calm.
When we’re calm, we can hear each other.
When we’re calm, we can help each other.
So even though it feels wrong to dance,
perhaps we must.
Perhaps we must dance
because we need its magic.
The magic that happens when chaotic emotion is transformed
into powerful rhythm.
Perhaps we must dance
to reintroduce balance, flow,
beauty and peace
back into the world.
Perhaps we must dance to save ourselves
and to save each other.
So dance, my dear dancers,
but do it with purpose.
Dance here, now, so your light can shine.
Dance to listen.
Dance to understand.
Dance to empower and inspire good in this world.
Dance with trust, reason, and compassion.
Dance for others
and dance for yourself.
Remember:
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams; —
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
-Ode by Arthur O’Shaughnessy
~~
Katie Flashner, a.k.a. The Girl with the Tree Tattoo, is a published author, blogger, and dancer based in mid-coast Maine. She loves exploring her creativity through nature, movement, and the written word, and revels in living in a place where there are more trees than people. You can catch her wandering through the woods on Instagram at @thegirlwiththetreetattoo.
Sarah Groth is an interdisciplinary performer, choreographer, teacher, poet, and mixed medium visual artist. After achieving a degree in Contemporary Dance and Intercultural Communications from the University of New Mexico, Sarah set out as an independent artist and traveler. She has had the privilege of moving, creating, and performing with renowned international artists across the world. Sarah has been published in the Albuquerque Journal, Blue Mesa Review, Daily Lobo, Stance on Dance, and Forty South. Sarah is committed to addressing the complexities of humanness in conjunction with self and community — aiming to bring the intensely intimate forward, creating openness within juxtaposition and identity.
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