Move-less

Eish.....I`m clueless and maybe next to useless. Two whole years without dance is something no dancer/mover should attempt. This lesson has been learnt.
I made a video for this dance audition...I want to go back to school again....I had no clue I looked that bad.
A note to all dancers and movers: do this once every so years so u can measure progress.
Anyway..I know that I am not a spectacular dancer...but hey I don`t give...I dance from the heart and that matters more than any rating. I love this thing...the gods bestowed it on us to use it to heal ourselves and others.I`m not ready to let them down.

Yeah....trying to dig my way out these lies about dance that have formed webs around me...the truth shall be found.

Danced my chance away...

I missed my flight....I not ready to believe that yet...I missed my ticket to a chance I had been planning on taking.
I planned my trip for months, only t miss my flight...I`ve missed so many opportunities in life...and this one is the worst yet...If I could do things differently I would...sleep at the airport a day before....catch a cab to the airport.....I would there was just no way I would have known that I`d miss it....
I don`t know if I`m ready to forgive myself...
I mean on that day I was sure I`d get there two hours before the flight took off, but when I got on the second train and saw that I had taken the slow train...I knew what was about to unfold.
The worst thing on top of it... the air company(Finnair) refused to give me another ticket or my money back claiming that it was a special ticket..there was no reclaiming,rescheduling it. Clearly saying...YOU MY DEAR MISSED YOUR OPPORTUNITY IN LIFE! AND WE WON`T HELP YOU!
I was pissed,frustrated.....but when you are African you never know if this is cause of you skincolour or not....those ladies at the CENTRAIR just looked at me and just didn`t want to try anything for me.
I had a chance to better my future and they just refused to help. So I guess next time I take an international flight...I`d have to think twice about which airline I travel with...and if they will give me any of my money back for my ticket.

Dancing down in Osaka..Kyoto

Circles in the Big O and K.

Headed down to Osaka to check out some contemporary classes. I had done some C.I in Matsumoto late last year...so I went thru the companies website to find this other guy in Osaka....I`ll put up the websites on the link list..


Anyway...Jun(san) came thru...major. Saved a girl from going nuts.He had said he has class on monday and Thursday, I wasn`t about to miss my less than 5hrs of dance in a year for anything.







So my Osaka adventure officially began on Saturday the 22nd of March. I headed down to The Big O to meet two friends of mine...both South African. Sadly their holiday ended the next day...I was alone for my big dance adventure. So I booked into my favourite Chou Hotel...and stayed for the week(nicest place I`ve been in J.p...plus its affordable). I had maps and a grand plan...

maps and things
Manday Starta!

It began...

I called the sensei to find out how to not get lost on the way to class....great directions...got it right first time...

Wonderful class!...Jun has this ability to explain movement in the simplest way. I can`t speak Japanese for anything but I understood his class very well...and we all KNOW dance is a language on its own, so it wasn`t hard to follow.

So we started with simple technical steps that later were incorporated into the combination. He did do standing and floor exercises and most of the combo was on the floor.Which was an added bonus for me..have to love mama(the floor), she gives us support, lifts us...and gives us momentum.

He did explain before class that he teaches Release technique. I was suffering(clearly) from lack of it.I loved it, loved it, loved it!....jeses! too nice.

Ok....I seem like I`m raving about class but...well I am. I haven`t had contemporary class in a year or so. So this was like stepping back into time and going forward with dance.

I did touristy things during the week which didn`t bother me like I thought they would. I went walkies and stumbled into a temple in Shitennoji. It was my nicest find that week...there was this garden inside...the called(uhm..grabbing the pamphlet)The garden of Gokuraku-Jodo.
This garden was sreconstructed based on the Nigabyaku-doh fable.


The story goes:

There are two rivers of water and fire. The water river is of greed and the fire refers to anger. They both are living hell in life. There is a white path between the rivers which is thought to be the path to paradise. This road is there but most of us cannot see it...it is said that only those who want to find paradise will see the road.

There are three rocks in the garden to simbolise Buddha and his attendants. I sat by the river...it was the most peaceful moment in my life( I swear). I just sat there...I knew I didn`t want to leave but I had to. At one point I thought I heard someone walk close to me...someone with a great presence, but when I turned there was no-one there, physically anyway. I could have sworn it was....

Wednesday Downer

Anyway...it`s not hard to find it its, quite big too....there are other things. There was a park I went to on Wednesday. I went looking for the tea house but the more I kept asking...is there a tea house there more I got.....yes its there, at the back( and some words that sounded like it`s not working) but you can go in. So I wasn`t surprised that I did in fact never get to go inside...but I walked around the park for what seemed like a day. Would advise anyone who wants t kill sometime doing nothing to go there...not the brightest thing to do.

Also I had wanted to take a flamenco class( a studio up the road) that evening and the evening before...what happened was I was re-assured that I could borrow shoes and castenets for those days.I got to the studio and everyone was busy running around doing their thing and I didn`t want to just grab somebodies shoes. I now know what it feels like for new students that have no clue about attire and stuff in a dance studio.
I did realise that often we overlook the newbie to accomodate the paying client. Newbies have to be held by the hand and walked with for a while till they get the swing of things...cause I`m sure they feel like they don`t fit in at first and things like....`oh god..what am I doing here...I hope someone just told me where I am supposed to be or where I should be...this won`t work` go through their minds.
I was very disappointed in this studio(not the same as Jun`s of course)...besides that it did look the part(they had real spanish teachers and what not) they didn`t really have open classes, there were times people came and sat(to make enquiries) no one was at the reception, they over charged(I felt for their classes). Usually classes in J.p are about 1000 yen to about 2000yen for a class...they were charging a whole 10 000 yen for about three classes...they clearly included the teachers flight tax.


Thursday Blunder


Gosh, I tried..I really did. But I couldn`t find the place.This class is in Kyoto but not the usual touristy kyoto...the one that takes about an hour and a half on the train to get to...gosh(things we do for this art,ne).


He drew the map for me...and even directed...but alas...I couldn`t find the place( I wasn`t the only one,too). Well actually cause I was in shin-Osaka I had to get to osaka via the loop, then change lines at Umeda I think. Then take a train there and get off at Gojo. The snag was the train took 1hour and 30minutes to get there...I took the local train. And also I wanted to check out Kyoto again...I did and left in good time to get to class....mara....I clearly did not have luck on me side. The train system can be confusing but I think I like it...the looping, changing...its affordable and environmentally friendlier.

Just when I gave up and looked down...There was the sign...clear as day for those who walk looking down to the sidewalk(that`s the one at the bottom...Dance alive)Very nice studio, made me think when I get a studio what I`d want it to look like.

So this class is a bit different. It focuses on technique as there are few students in the class. So goodest for people like me...dance stalkers! There was a whole bunch of grown up people and one kid...like 17 or something. That must have been an experience for her...but she said she enjoyed the class...really hope she gambarimasu(sed) and she`s still there. I`d like to see more young peeps dancing. It looks like they are becoming a rare specie...in dance studio`s.


Thursday was too nice....so sad that it was in fact my last class. And I sort of hung around after class cause I didn`t want to go back to `the job`. I took a very early bus at 9 in the morning to get home at about half-past three.It is just amazing what time we take out our lives to get somewhere I would have liked to use those hours spent taking the bus and train...dancing.

Ngwao (train from pilates class.2)

Nya! go bina ke go phela

go hema ke go phela
go phela ke go hema
go hema ke go rapela
go rapela ke go leboga badimo



Nya! ka mme

bina....o leboge badimo!

the train home...pilates class. 2

It`s where I want to be
It makes me a better person

My body feels wonders through it
My muscles smile when they feel this
My heart wants to clean itself out
sending all scar-tissue, heaviness flying
My lungs want to expand to the ends of the
Earth, suck up all goodness dawn to my belly

Do a big Pilates scoop and...

Exhale the good back to
all the living and non-living

I can`t wait to take my next breath.

the beginning of another path...

dancing for sanity adds a new meaning for dance.
Lately i feel i am dancing for sanity.
The lines between traditional dance, trances, therapeutic, dance art are starting to thin out...and experiences my spirit undergoes creates a tension between all the above and not to mention my body.

dance has become apart of my nervous system, the way i think, the way i structure my questions..I can`t begin to think of another way my body and mind can think at the same time.

Dance fortifies the mind, which is the body and thoughts coming together.The journey a dancer takes is different from other professions, especially if that dancer seeks light through dance. the longer you dance, the longer you understand your body, how you think and where you are in space(in relation to other people and beings).

It`s because of this reason I find my life unravelling at both ends at the same time. It seems like there is nowhere to move to but sometimes(like on stage) if you can`t move one part of your body...move the other. If you can`t move any parts of your body...move your thoughts...find other ways of moving.

Move your ear!
move your eyes!
move your self!

Your expression says a lot about what you are thinking about. I may not look like Im moving at that moment in my life but internally I am reaching a different space...so I have moved in a different way(your could even say i moved in a different dimension).

Trying to make sense of different things separately sometimes leads nowhere...one piece at a time...its all coming together. Dance as a healing technique...a way to center my Self...a way to educate....to create social change in Afrika and the world.

Aforika the beginning, the end.

So I hang around a lot of people who assume they are `privileged` maybe cause they are from a so called first world country. Sharp. Traveling half-way round the world to find that people from so called third world countries are rich in culture, love and even happiness...is a little strange.

I grew up in a time when the history you find in textbooks was being written. I grew up going to ballet classes cause those were the only dance classes offered at my school. This was of course supported by my hard-working parents.

As a mover now I look back and see that I really had no support from my white teachers....cause as much as I was going to class year after year and receiving the most improved dancer every year...I was never as good as the white kids. For some reason they managed to be better a it.....of course I was never told about any other things that happened around my studio that my parents were working hard to pay.

I would never be told how much I can improve or how I could get better....I always fought myself to better dancing purely by my self. As someone who has had the privilege to have taught dance...I know that the dance student should always be fed information about their craft all the time even if the dance teacher refuses to see that that child has a talent in dance....which may not be a ballet dancer but something more...a mover of sorts. Looking at my future I see that there is a definite need for dance education within my continent...its not about teaching hip-hop to poor underprivileged Aforikans...or teaching ballet.....see slavery and colonisation must never happen twice in the same continent.



The western philosophy about dance and the techniques used waken the body...but Aforika has been dancing far longer than any other continent was created. A different type of awareness needs to happen. It should be the individual awakening to a reality that says they can choose any dance form to express themselves and be able to....that they can be recognised for their research and knowledge without a white or any other race validating their talents.

Teachers and those going to volunteer in the great continent should always build themselves first so that they are able to guide...guide the scholars to reach levels that can take the world forward.

Simply teaching dance steps is for the old, tired ballet teacher that gives the same class since getting their certificate. A new way of approaching work should be thought out....going deep in yourself and finding reasons why a student can`t progress....why they keep hanging round your class after school without saying anything. A more spiritual take should be looked at in terms of teaching...cause those steps can get old but the spirit is always alive.

Aforika has always had rhythm, beat and movement.

And should never be asked to point to second in pointe shoes to validate that they indeed can dance. It should never be asked to prove that they in fact are using a technique by writing books and Europe-nising their dances.Our Aforikan intellects are being under valued because they have never been overseas...never were in particular social circles. This is of course creating a situation where our intellects can`t help take the community to higher levels.

All this leaves me thinking all the time about home...when I finish my studies...educate and help my people cause they need so much more sometimes after the beatings we have taken in history....love through education should reach them.