Dance Competition Palm Desert, California

Twenty years of dancing summed up in two hours.  It was a final exam of sorts, not unlike selling Ultimo.   The effect of six weeks in Jaipur still continues to amaze me.  As I revisit aspects of my life, people, places, and events, I see how different everything has become.  Each point is unique and carries its own vibration or resonance, but my internal landscape is more peaceful how it experiences these unique elements.

A ballroom dance event is like going to a foreign country.  There is a tribe of people in maximum glamour and a different glamour than Hollywood or Bollywood.  The gowns are extravagant and over the top with encrusted jewels and yards of flowing fabric.  The men are more conservative with tailcoats, but many enhance their appearance with make-up.  All of a sudden their are no rules about how to get to the finished product of glamour.  Hair is shaped and decorated with jewels, tans are in place via a tanning booth or spray tan, and make-up becomes acceptable at the theatrical level.  While I was experiencing all of this through my personal glamourized appearance and the surroundings, I felt the inner calmness of the ashram.  In some ways I became the being with two eye holes and the rest was peaceful expansiveness.  In the past, I would have been agitated by being in such a foreign get-up and feeling so out of place, since my normal attire is riding pants, boots, and a cap.

While waiting on deck to step onto the floor, there was no nervousness--only joy at the opportunity to experience dancing without choreography.  Finally in a way that was letting go within the structure and really enjoying the energy of shared movement, having no where to go but the present moment, and nothing to do but sense into what was unfolding.  Crazy fun.  Twenty years of technique, dance related growth/introspection, and trust all swirling in a container of human phenomena.

It really is the path.  These moments are the icing on the cake.  Placing well was a dance juries acknowledgement of the work, but it paled next to the level of satisfaction we both felt. No one new that we hadn't danced from choreography.  People commented on the ease and flow of our actions, but it was a credit to the ego stepping aside.  We trusted our training and became a physical expression that was organic in every sense.  The real truth and authenticity of dancing is now beginning.  I could become addicted, since this is what my inner being has searched for.  I had experienced it early on in riding, so why was it so allusive in dancing?  Two human minds with egos instead of partnering with an animal that lives in uncluttered truth/presence is the obstacle.  The letting go had to be valued and trusted by both partners.  An unforgettable experience.  Thank you Max!!!

The letting go, trust, faith or however you want to describe it is what I have done to now follow this spiritual path at a new level.  Faith in the unknown, giving up control, and flowing with the unfoldment becomes the way to approach living.  The dance competition was a dress rehearsal for what lies ahead. Creative teaching at its finest.  Thank you universe!