What's New

5Rhythms Tribe | Committing to the Dance

October 11, 2017

by Simon Tanner, United Kingdom

Today I have decided to commit to life as I commit to the dance.

Moving to centre floor, I begin in stillness. Facing the altar, bare feet on ground, head aloft in the rafters, lit in the glow of the evening sun through portals up high to the world beyond. This is the inner dance, the sacred dance, the dance of connection. I kneel, breath in, breath out, thoughts falling away as music fades in.

As a slender tree in the breeze I bend, slight at first, increasing in amplitude as the wave builds. Opening as a bud, letting the fingers of sound inch into my being to penetrate deeper within. Present to breath, to body, the cool air on my cheeks, the cotton resting gently on my skin, I rise to a stand as the first ripples flood across the space within my core, filling me with feeling. My body responds; my arms roll out as my feet sense the earth through the carpeted floor. My head arcs to worship East, North, West and South. My shoulders curve as they follow the rising and falling symphony, belly rising inhale, falling exhale. Arms swooping now as the volume expands, feet raising from floor, rolling through other bodies, finding the emptiness between.

Beat enters, pulsing, thumping, staccato. Body responds. Feet pound the ground. Softened hands become edged, thrusting, directing, leading the rhythm. Swift knee raises, pivots and falls, foot lands with the boom, boom, boom. Heart throbs, blood charges, skin heats. Lights dim as bodies ignite, a hundred torches leaping, two hundred feet stamping. Rock this way, twist that way. Down to the ground, vault to the sky.

Quickening, pulsating, rhythms ricocheting off stone pillars, heavy sounds rippling the dance floor. Bodies convulsing, shaking, breath in, breath out, heavy roars, frantic panting. Duba,duba, duba, duba. Energy crackles as dancers come together, jumping high, whoops, cheers, cries. Anguish, ecstasy, raging torsos, crashing down, whirling, swooping. Letting go, letting in. The beat grinds through, shrill melodies, release, arms shoot to the ceiling, screams of delight, committing to chaos.

Transformation. Discord to harmony, blooming into creation. Light enters, spilling into the dark corners of the hall, beats turn to bounds. Lyrical skips across the space, my body pirouettes to frolic in the fun. Eyes meet, knowing glances, teasing flicks of the fingers. I jump high, you spin low, reversing back as you roll forward. La, la, las meet soaring melodies, playful tumbles meet beckoning come ons. I chase you, you run to hide. Pouncing, bouncing, leaping and lifting. Opening to joy, peeling away to softening.

Return to stillness. Rhythms reduce, homecoming to the fold as arms move from without to within. My body centres, as harmonies slow. Depth rises from below. Earth beckons, my torso falls to touch the soul of the world and in so doing the world touches my soul. The space between as time expands, bounding beats dissolve as the music melts to move through to my core. Breath in, two, three, out, two, three. Calming. Cool air caressing the hair on my arms as my form moulds to curl in, returning to its invisible womb. Tender holding, giving away. Surrendering to being. Breath, peace, endings.

Music fades, the din of the city beyond the walls seeps in, awareness moves to rest between the inside and the out, connected through the breath. Dance accomplished.

< BACK TO NEWS