People keep asking me ‘how was your summer?
GERMANY – Arriving into a Hanover, Germany, in August, I heard the news that Europe had been having the most rain in 100 years. I actually experienced this everywhere I went this summer. Peaches were delicious, though some people were picking them and letting them ripen indoors because everything was so wet.
I first stayed in the village of Heckenbeck. There is a seminar house in Heckenbeck with a theater that is always booked. This village is a very creative place, and they present many interesting drama works, music and dance performances, and children’s works as well. I had a wonderful concert there.
Afterwards the director of the theater and seminar house called me back to the stage and presented me with a bottle of something only found in this place, a very unique non-alcoholic apple cider, pressed in a special way that makes it the ‘champagne’ of apples and a specialty of the region.
The group who gathered for the seminar were uniquely interesting as well: therapists, scientists, teachers, one climate change expert, people who love to dance, people who used to dance, caregivers of Alzheimers’ patients, and some people who have been working with me for a long time.
We practiced what I created, called ‘BodyListening,’ a body-friendly way to explore free movement. The process begins with the body lying on the floor, while attuning to a quiet deep awareness, and then moving in the way the body wants to move. This kind of interior work, with space to move fully, coupled with the time to inquire within has been shown to bring resilience to those who are in the practice.
For several days we had the good luck to eat outside in the garden, simple style-soup, fresh German bread and cheese, and the fruits of the summer.
In the afternoons we concentrated on working in rhythm, and learned about the way we feel inside of musical rhythmic structures. Being a musician, I enjoy the music of movement. It gives people a chance to explore different ways of moving. Rhythm is like a ‘container,’ a four-beat rhythm holds the space in a different way than three beats, for example.
Participants report that one of the outcomes of the seminar is a feeling of expansion of being, both physically and with awareness. Some people stay for more in depth private work. I love sharing this kind of space with people. It gives a place for our daily struggles to be explored amidst the spaciousness of freedom and wonder.
I learned that in the north of Germany, the ancient way that people built homes, with adobe, or mud and straw, was very similar to New Mexico. I saw some spectacular and yet simple homes, both large and small, that people had built themselves. We ate wonderful salad vegetables, fresh from their gardens.
SWITZERLAND – Moving then to the Italian Swiss Alps, I arrived once again, as I have for many years, at the Zenith Institute.
This is a camp high in the mountains, where each summer the place is built up, with tents, a main big tent, seminar tents, and tenting for participants. I stay in a shed-style house with other teachers a bit below the main tent area. We have lots of rain jokes here, and they have a pile of French rubber mountain boots, which I usually have to borrow at least once each summer. This year I wore them the whole time.
The main tent is very large, and it is here that the classes take place. On a warm day you can open the side panels, and see the breathtaking views of what look like the European Himalayas, the Alps.
It is in this high mountain atmosphere that I have had the good fortune to lead experimental movement based in the presence of nature–divine and exquisite. Sometimes we go outside and work in the mountains, studying the way our beings feel inside of the body. Between earth and the sky, we explore the meeting of the physical with deep awareness, in expression. Learning from the way a tree is rooted, reaching into the sky, and then taking that lesson into exploration.
Often we work inside of the beautiful wood floored main tent. If it is cold, the staff light the gas heaters which when wearing layers helps to keep us warm. This year because of the dampness, we had to cultivate a lot of humor to continue.
The subject of humor is a constant lesson in my life, and one that comes in very handy. As my good friend Wavy Gravy used to say to kids when we worked together at Camp Winnarainbow, “If you don’t have a sense of humor, it’s just not funny!’
SANTA FE, NM – The autumn equinox is around the corner, and so is my upcoming concert with friend and violinist extraordinaire, Tracy Silverman. We have been wanting to artistically collaborate for some time.
The special live concert filming event will enable us to begin a work called The Aurora Project. We will be able to both perform together and work with groups of young people
challenged by life’s circumstances, around the U.S.
I first met Tracy when he was performing with Terry Riley, a great contemporary composer of music in our time, with a heart in North Indian classical music as well as music in the Western world. Some years ago, I traveled and performed with Terry and Tracy and other highly skilled and wonderful musicians in Norway and that’s when Tracy and I began to talk about working together.
We both work with young people, and feel very strongly about carrying the joy of music, movement, and freedom into the ever-changing world.
Please feel free to let your friends know about this work and let us know if you are interested in bringing seminars or performances to your communities.
Don’t forget to Take A Minute™ for yourself as the busyness of life speeds into autumn.
Be Well,
Zuleikha
www.storydancer.com
www.thestorydancerproject.org
www.takeaminuteforyourlife.com