Postmodern Hymn: Droit Devant

by Emma C.

I'm having fun listening to French musciennes on Spotify these days: Camille, Rose, Marie-Pierre Arthur. I have to say, there are lots of songs I thought would make lovely hymns, but then I actually paid attention to the words and realized that maybe the ideas didn't fit with my idea of a hymn! For me, a hymn needs words or the absence of words pointing to particular alchemical method.

So, I present "Droit Devant" by Marie-Pierre Arthur. It made the cut and provides a nice focus for meditating on French hymns. 

"Droit, droit devant
Mes yeux cherchent la lune
Je marche pour changer le temps
Pour m’effacer dans la brume

Bye bye,
M’en aller loin, loin
Bye bye

Par delà,
Toutes les peurs et les silences
Les mots dansent
et mes pensées se balancent"

I hesitate to provide the translation, but here it is, courtesy of Pearl Kleppin:

"Right, straight ahead
I am looking at the moon
I walk to change time
To erase myself in the mist

Bye bye
I go far
Bye bye

Beyond
All fears and silences
The words dance
And my thoughts sway"

Dancing with the Water

Behind the Surface, by Nadaia Moro
via trendland

I've been having lots of watery dreams lately, so these pictures by Nadia Moro really speak to me. In my dream space, water brings non-differentiation and returns what's not important to prima materia. 

If water dissolves the irrelevant, the key to living joyfully is to identify with what is lasting. (Not that I'm saying what that is.) 

After this dissolution comes the dance. Recognize you're part of something powerfully creative and join in its creative song.

Dance Till You Feel Better

I remember watching this clip from So Think You Can Dance years ago, and I still think it's one of the best moments from the show. When I watch Will Wingfield dance this solo, I feel like I'm listening to a gospel choir. His dancing has a beautiful synchronicity between between the music and the lyrics, and it really does make me want to get up and dance.

Dancing Storm Spirit

Floating Corset, by Frances Pellegrini
via Biddington's

"Praised be this wild, good, free spirit of the storm, which dances upon swamps and afflictions, as upon meadows! . . . Lift up your hearts, you good dancers, high! Higher! And do not forget the goodness of laughter! This crown of laughter, this rose garland crown: to you my brothers do I throw this crown! Laughing have I consecrated; you higher men, learn, I pray you - to laugh!" 

  —Friederich Nietzsche in Thus Spake Zarathustra, "The Higher Man," #20 

This quotation is partially the inspiration for "the Dancing Alchemist," both the name and the focus of the blog. There's something almost Taoist about the storm spirit's affirmation of all conditions, and there's something magically alchemical about laughter being able to transform the one who laughs, through affirmation, to embrace all circumstances. Isn't that part of the Great Work, to take joy in life as it is given?

Destino

A collaboration between Dali and Disney, which I find incredibly beautiful.

The original collaboration was completed in 2003, after Disney's nephew found the storyboards and 17-second clip and saw the project through to completion. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film.

I Wanted It Thus

I wanted it thus, by yours truly

Here's a little drawing I did last year around this time. I think it suits the Halloween season. With all the imagery of death and living dead, I think it's a good time to ponder the "eternal return" . . . can you affirm that you would relive this moment exactly as it is?

"For all joy wants itself, therefore it also wants heart's agony! O happiness! O pain! Oh break, heart! You Higher Men, learn this, learn that joy wants eternity, 

joy wants the eternity of all things, wants deep, deep, deep eternity!"

    —Thus Spoke Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche

Fancy Dance

Powwow season is winding down, and news sources like Indian Country Today Media Network have fantastic videos of the dancing that went on all over the continent. It's absolutely breathtaking.

Here's a video I found of the women's fancy shawl dance. The fancy dance is a relatively new dance that started when other religious dances were outlawed in the early part of the twentieth century. Despite its sad origins, I can't help feeling joyful whenever I watch these dancers. They seem to fly over the ground, and yet they are also so connected with the ground and the beat of the drum. 

May we all find ways to dance in the face of adversity.

Admiring: Ladies Who Love to Dance

I visited my Nanna at her retirement community last week so that I could hear some of the classic tunes of her generation as played by the local piano sensation. (I totally recommend bonding with family through song. There's nothing like seeing your grandmother get teary eyed at "I'll Being Seeing You" to give you a picture into her world.)

One of the best parts of the afternoon was seeing one of Nanna's friends dancing to the tunes. She'd dance in line as she waited for her cocktail shrimp. She'd dance in her chair. And then when a gent asked her to dance, she got up and moved her feet with such quickness you'd think she was a young woman. She even did the Charleston bees-knees step. She was a star. It didn't hurt that she was wearing glasses like Bono, either.

This is who I want to be when I get older—someone who'll take any opportunity to enjoy life that's given to her.

Billy Wells and Janet Richter doing the Charleston, Life Magazine, 1952
via Letters for George

Golden October Days

The Joy of a Fallen Leaf, by Arthur Rackham
via If We Live That Long

"I'm so glad to live in a world where there are Octobers."

    —Anne, in Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery

I rediscovered this quotation from Anne of Green Gables via Mon Cabinet de Curiosities, via Book Oasis.

Being a red-head and imaginative little girl, Anne was my hero growing up. I loved how she was continually trying to add romance and magic to her world, always with comedic results. (Green hair and raspberry cordial, anyone?) As the books progressed, she learned to love what was quotidian and simple, without losing her talent for seeing the world through poetry and beauty.

It's about balance, isn't it: taking joy in each falling golden leaf, without getting swept away? 

Cosmic Dancer

The Dance, by Esti of Pintameldia

There's a beautiful paper called "Dancing in God: The Relevance of Ritual for Conceiving the Divine Today," by Curtis Thompson on the University of Chicago's Religion and Web Culture Forum page.

The challenges, as Thompson sees them:

• to address daily practices often considered unreligious
• to confront dis-ease with being embodied, i.e., translate the divine back into nature

The modalities of dancing:

• pantheism's dancing heart: the dancer affirms God's presence in everything
• panentheism's dancing mind: the dancer affirms God's transcendental embodiment, interdependent from the world
• pantranentheism's dancing soul: the dancer affirms God's transformational presence and her partnership with God

The conclusion:

• "To allow the dancing heart and the dancing mind and the dancing soul to coalesce in a full-bodied dancing in God is to join in the sacred dance of the cosmos."

The Tree Inside Her, by Esti of Pintameldia

Read the article for all the juicy details. This summary is simply meant to inspire an attitude of frolicking, leaping, and generally joyful living!

Admiring: Ballerinas

I just saw A Day in the Life with Misty Copeland, an African American dancer with American Ballet Theater who is passionate about getting people of color dancing in ballet. She's so beautiful to watch, and her outreach is really inspirational.

Misty Copeland

I'm also a fan of the "Five Moons Ballerinas," American Indian dancers from Oklahoma who impacted ballet in important ways. Yvonne Chouteau, a member of the Shawnee tribe, danced with Ballet Russe and founded the first nationally accredited dance program at the University of Oklahoma as well as Oklahoma City Ballet. 

Yvonne Chouteau
Photograph by Jack Mitchell, Getty Images

Maria Tallchief danced for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and the New York City Ballet, in works by her husband, George Balanchine.

Maria Tallchief

Maria's sister, Marjorie, along with Moscelyne Larkin and Rosella Hightower were also internationally renowned. 

Make 'Em Laugh

Have you ever been around a person that just laughs all the time? The kind of person that is able to radiate joy and love even in difficult situations?

When I'm around people like that, I feel so energized and so encouraged, and the effects of sharing in laughter last for days and days, too.

So, here's a little gift of laughter for you. It's such a classic that even glee has redone it.

Do you have a favorite joke? A sure-fire way to get a smile on your face?

First Post

What better way to open "The Dancing Alchemist" than with a dance?

Choreographed by Maurice Rejart, to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony... a celebration of life, interconnectedness, and the joy of recognizing our part in it all.

NEW BALLET BY MAURICE REJART aka BELGIUM: NEW BALLET BY REJART