The Next Big Project!

I'm excited to be working on developing a participatory dance theater piece which incorporates child-like poetry with Dances of Universal Peace in the structure of the Latin Mass. It's a story of disheartened faith and how one person healed to a place of great joy and radiance. I think it is ubiquitous and I hope the experience with help others with their own liberation. More details about my partners in a future post! 

This work isn't possible without supporters who believe in the project. I'm working to setup my GiveMN page to take advantage of Give to the Max Day on Thu, Nov 12, 2015. Can you donate $10 that day? Think about it. Pray about it. Then watch for more details about how to contribute and, of course, more about the project itself and what the funds would be used for. 

Thanks for following and supporting the work of Points Of Light Music! 

Dance Retreat next weekend!

I'm co-hosting my first overnight retreat this coming weekend and I'm excited, nervous, anxious, and hopeful!  I'm wearing a few different hats, like leading a reflection segment within a larger program piece and coordinating all the dance leaders, so there's a lot of prep. 

All in all, I'm excited because this group of people used to gather annually at this retreat center about 20 years ago, and this is the first time since the mid-1990's that the Dances of Universal Peace will be returning to the Villa Maria in Frontenac, MN.  You can just walk in, but if you'd like a meal from the Villa kitchen or a bed/camp site, registering would be good so there's enough for all.  Details here. 

Programmatically, I'm leading reflection times during the Dance for the Healing of Memories through Prayers and Poems on Saturday morning.  This will include silence, discussion, and art!  Not super messy art, but inviting people to take the bodily and emotional experience of singing and dancing and impulsively transferring that to paper (you know, what I used to call Breaktime Doodles and now calling Visual Niguns, a twist on wordless sung prayers from the Jewish tradition).  The pictures I've included here are some that I've created. 

What I'm even more excited about is the context these reflections will be a part.  My LEAD cohort classmate and friend, Mary Martin Lane, has put together what I believe will be a powerful combination of dances, poems, and prayers to tell the story of how the Dances of Universal Peace transformed her life.  I can't wait to see it fully and hear how it is received.  I think it is universal.  Come and tell me what you think of it. 

Blessings on your day.  C~

Poem of Grace: Stephen and Ondrea Levine

By Stephen & Ondrea Levine.

There is a grace approaching that
we shun as much as death.
It is the completion of our birth.

Poem of Grace: Sheba's Hestitation by Rumi

This is the first poem I have ever memorized that wasn't a song.  Surprisingly it was easier than expected. Perhaps it was because I expected to not get it right for awhile, so that gave me permission to fail?  I also identified sections and memorable lines to frame the outline which helped pull me through.

It was after I memorized it and met another grace poem that I realized it was foretelling WotY 2015.  Here it is ...

Sheba's Hesitation by Rumi

tr. by Coleman Barks

Lovers of God, sometimes a door opens
and a human being because a way
for grace to come through.