People often ask me about the relationship between dancing and doctoring. The art of dance is my bridge builder—it is how I explain the world and the Universe to myself. It is the way I make this internal dialogue visible. Movement is a metaphor for all of life. Something I know for sure is that I would have no life without movement. Choreographing and directing a women’s dance company is another way extending this expression out into the world. It is also a quiet and persistent act of resistance and revolt for me, against boundaries, against others trying to define me and put me into a category of what fits their definition of what it means to be a woman, a wife, a mother, a doctor, or even a dancer for that matter.
The woman and I that make up Core of Fire are as much a Community of Resistance and Revolution as we are a gathering of women who collectively desire to express ourselves through dance and movement. We say no to aging in graceless, sexless bodies that have become undesirable even to ourselves—we say an equal yet opposite no as well to being objectified and choose instead to define ourselves to ourselves for ourselves. We often commune with our immortal ancestors moving forward in the world while shape shifting perceptions of how woman are supposed to move in the world; how and when we can be seen in the world. We dare to shape shift ourselves putting on colors and costumes to illustrate our mood and our emotions, we color our lips and tint our cheeks, darken our eyelashes so when our gaze meets yours, there is no mistaking the truth we speak with our stare; the honor we bring; the life givers and signifiers that we are today and everyday.
These are acts of resistance or revolution because 50,60, and 70 something professionals with degrees and desk jobs, husbands, and children are supposed to be settling in to a middle aged colorless purgatory, defined and confined by others expectations. No thank you we say, collectively and individually. No thank you, I say for movement is both my life and my medicine and you make take neither for granted.
To help you free your inner dancer, please visit www.meditationinatimeofmadness.com and order your copy today!