Dare to Dance Week #5: Stepping Out/Freedom

May 13, 2012

Dare to Dance Week #5:  Stepping Out/Freedom

Series Title: Dare to Dance: Moving towards Healing

Anchor: Judy Emerson’s drawings

Frame:  Releasing/ Opening

Threads: Prayer beads, healing prayers, Dance, Song - Healed Healthy and Whole

Image:  She has fully risen and is dancing with joy

2 Samuel 6:12-16

 It was told King David, ‘The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.’ So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing; and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.

In one of our planning sessions I shared a story from the book, “Inheriting Our Mothers’ Gardens” in which one author (a Korean woman) tells of a time when she and her mother were walking to a village where some relatives lived. Her mother was a very traditional Korean woman: reserved, obedient, modest and subservient. On their walk they stop by a stream to wash in the cool water. But her mother does not just wash her hands or face. She begins to strip down. The author (relating her memory as a girl when this occurred) was horrified. But to make things worse, her mother begins to dance around in the deserted woods. It took years for the author to realize how bound and constricted her mother was by her traditional role in that society. That day by the stream was a rare moment when freedom overtook her, and in that freedom she had to dance. Just like her traditional clothing, she had shed (even for the briefest of times) the constraints of her life. She was naked, and she was free, and she danced.

I see that same joy in our figure for this week. Her nudity has nothing to do with shame or poverty. She is free and beautiful and perfect just as God made her. And now she dances, stretching free of the cramps that fear had imposed upon her. Her arms and legs reach out into the world. She vibrates with joy. Where in the first image she is isolated by her posture, here she is a part of the energy of life. At first she seemed a small child, vulnerable and defenseless. Here though we see all the strength and vitality of adulthood just attained. She is ready to make her own mark on the world.

David had made his mark on the world, too. He has gained the throne of Israel, and in this passage he is bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. David is bringing the very presence of God into the capital city, the heart of the people. And so he dances. His joy overflows and exceeds all expectations of decorum and reserve that a king show exhibit. Elsewhere in this passage, David joy is symbolized by the free feast he shares with all the people. The text says he is leaping and dancing before God. This is no socially acceptable waltz. This is gyrating joy, a primal celebration of life.

In an interesting twist, like the daughter in the first story who is appalled by her mother’s behavior, David’s wife Michal is appalled at his behavior. So much so that the text tells us “she despised him in her heart.” It is one of the curiosities of healing and the joy it may bring that others around us may not share those feelings. In fact, it can cause resentment or even anger. In addicted family systems, they have often learned how to cope with stress of the illness but not on the stress of recovery. When one family member begins to recover the old coping methods no longer function. Sad but true that too many times not everybody is happy when somebody heals.

The point here is not a warning against dancing in order to prevent offending somebody. No, it is vitally important to dance anyway. David bringing the Ark into the city was a sign that the wounds of their warfare were ending. God, the life-giver, was here. The Korean mother danced even amid her daughter’s crying because she sensed the presence of a liberating Spirit. Out figure dances without regard to the cost because she has risen from her pain and celebrates the gift of joy.

This Sunday is also mother’s day and we should thing about how our celebration may lift that up. I am reminded that one of the origins of Mother’s day is Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation of 1870. Following the devastation of the Civil War, she call for a day of peace and life (http://womenshistory.about.com/od/howejwriting/a/mothers_day.htm ) Here is a video of dramatic reading of that proclamation (a couple minutes in) http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/8/mothers_day_for_peace_a_dramatic

I will also try make contact with Don Titmus again and see if we can bring Conscious Dance back into the Studio. The energy and freedom of Conscious Dance would lend themselves well to the feel of the day.

So the question I face in thinking about our coming Sunday (one more to go!) is, How do we give ourselves the freedom to finally dance?