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5Rhythms Tribe | Dance Poetry

January 13, 2017

A postcard from the echoes of our dance together…
by Stuart Phillips
London, United Kingdom ·

London, United Kingdom

Attached I scream in fear of being abandoned,
Trapped I yearn to be free to be me,
Separate I cry for the intolerable anguish of tribal conflict,
Excluded I long for the comfort of belonging,
Alone I wonder lost seeking and searching for my tribe.

Together we are art.
Together we are.
Together we love.
Together we are love.
Together we are love.
We are love.
We are loved.
We are.

***

A Gift Returned by Ben Deutsch

After seven years in the wilderness,
Day after day offering my dance to God,
Finally, I heard God speak.

Very quietly and clearly he said,
“Thank you for this dance, beloved,
It is a beautiful gift.
All of your dances have been beautiful gifts.
But now I offer them back to you.

This dance is yours.
This body is yours.
This life, this breath this heart beat are yours.

You must take responsibility for them.
You must choose what to do with them.
That, beloved, is my gift to you.”

There’s a song that I’ve often heard played at 5Rhythms classes and workshops: “Every Breath is Yours” by the Waterboys. It contains lines like “Who is it moves in me, beloved? Whose heart beats? Who breathes?” I’ve always interpreted it as the singer addressing God, offering his life in service. One day at a Stillness workshop with Rose Karen Ramsay, the same song was played, and suddenly it sounded like God singing to humanity, saying “Actually, folks, I gave these lives to you, they’re yours.”

It was actually some weeks later at another workshop that the words to describe the experience came to me. When I posted the words on Facebook, one of my oldest friends remarked on the line “All of your dances have been beautiful gifts” and (kindly) said that this was even true at the rock gig we’d met at in London in 1987. In which case, the opening line should probably say “After 26 years in the wilderness”, but poetic license and all that!

And the message, for me, stays the same. However much I aim to be of service, however much I surrender to that-which-is-greater-than-I, every action is still my responsibility. And, paradoxically perhaps, the more I am willing to take responsibility, the more deeply I am able to surrender.

***
Dance Poetry
by Hege M Sandvik Eikeland, Norway

Everything inside was stirred up by The Dance.
I realize that nothing is left up to chance.
I learned the art of embracing,
Never more hesitation.
To move whenever you feel this soft breeze,
It will take you further into your inner peace.
My heart tinkled like a shining star
While the dance brought me very far.
I opened my eyes and could really see,
It is good enough to be me.
Nothing I need to own or possess,
Actually I’m happier with less.
Speak with love, sing, laugh and dance,
Don’t miss a single chance
To spread this vibrant energy
It moves around like a melody
Inside, outside, it’s all the same,
It’s part of the universal game.
We all play our own part,
It’s up to you to choose from the heart.

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