Dancing With Presence Blog

You may say I’m a dreamer, well I’m not the only one… (Imagine, John Lennon). Perhaps we are all dreamers. Perhaps that is what makes us human: seeking, searching, imagining, reaching for the beyond.  We are mythmakers and storytellers. This is how we make sense of our lives, marking the lessons learned, tracing a trajectory … Read more

Love seeks a face The question came up again at our cozy Tango gathering: “Isn’t it a little frivolous, maybe even disrespectful, to be dancing in these dark times?”  I posted a link in my blog last week to a very inspiring video clip of tangueros dancing in the streets of Kyiv, which I encourage … Read more

Air raid sirens were near constant and Russian troops were on the outskirts of the city, but that didn’t stop some people in Kyiv from dancing….“Ukrainians know freedom is the most important feeling. Staying, dancing, enjoying life, is about protecting that.” Read the full Article from the Guardian. Dance expresses so vividly the indomitable human … Read more

Does this happen? On occasion? Rare occasions? In the zone. Those experiences where the dance happens to you rather than you creating it. Lost in the moment. Caught up in, even consumed by the motion and the music. You are your partner are merged, blended, one spirit.  You are not thinking, barely even aware. Nothing … Read more

My daughter phoned me the other day, asking the question that is troubling most of us these days, “What can we do of consequence to quell the rising tide of madness around us?” At this moment, her chosen craft of musical theatre is seemingly rendered irrelevant, almost irreverent by the brutality of war. The wisdom … Read more

Let’s face it. We are a needy bunch.  We want all the affection and attention we can get. We long to be appreciated and affirmed. We seek to be rocked, comforted, to be touched with gentleness and respect. We need to be assured we are not alone. The solution? … Mirroring.  Okay, this takes us … Read more

Do I enjoy torturing myself? Almost two years into the COVID shut down and I am still playing over and over in my mind those magical moments on the dance floor. Too many to count but I remember distinctly the feeling from every one. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. During this absence, I have … Read more

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love.” Simone Weil  “Love is the quality of attention we pay to things.” J.D. McClatchy. Attentiveness Deep attention is one of the most precious treasures we can share. Attentiveness is … Read more

Tango, Space and Connection But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Khalil Gibran, The Prophet. This beloved poem was written about … Read more

Tango is danced to the beat of the heart…. Only feeling gives it understanding and beauty, which is what … differentiates it from the coarse and mechanical…. We dance the music not the steps. Anyone who aspires to dance never thinks about what he is going to do.  Carlos Gavito Well-spoken by one whose performances … Read more