Why Do I Dance?

I dance because I have to

My body, my lungs, my liver would surely collapse upon themselves

wither and die if I did not

I dance because it is my prayer

My lamentation

My Savior

My temple

My religion

I dance because it feeds my soul and heals my wounds

It bathes me in unassuming comfort

It is my source of solace

An embrace when I so desperately needed it

It is my laughter and my ecstasy

My oxygen and my purpose

I dance so that I no longer have to walk alone

on this joyous, agonizing, wrenching, wonderful journey of life

I dance to wash away my former confines

I dance to step outside my skin, to shed my former restraints

To wipe my slate clean as freshly laundered linen

I dance because all the children of God dance

I dance because it frees me

It releases me

And just for a moment I am here

Fully inhabiting this body

It is my glimmer of hope, the radiance beckoning in tomorrow

It is the face of God, cast upon my own

It is my connection with the Divine

I dance because it silences my doubt

It drowns out the naysayers

It lets me close my eyes at night

I dance because there is this burning in my body, deep within the marrow, buried at the source

There is a snake coiled around my spine, humming with the vibration and I cannot ignore it

It is stronger than I am

I must let it out

I dance because it is my tears, drummed out over the echo of my pain, loss and regret

It is the visual manifestation of my words unspoken

You may be able to silence my voice

But you cannot silence the beating of my heart

I dance because I have to

Photo Credit: "Expansion" sculpture by Paige Bradley

Pursue Your Passion

A few weeks ago I saw the Gauguin exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. I was very much captivated by the exhibit, but it wasn't just the artwork. It was also the story behind the art. It was the tale of an artist's pursuit of a dream above all else. As a fellow artist, it was a tale that spoke to my heart.

Paul Gauguin was a stockbroker in Victorian-area Paris. Disillusioned with the corporate world and European civilization, he sailed for French-Polynesia in 1891 for an initial extended stay. By 1895, he left France again, this time never to return. Fascinated and intrigued by the exotic beauty and raw primitiveness of the native Polynesians and their land, Gauguin embarked on the pursuit that would consume the rest of his life: capturing his elusive paradise on canvas.  Thus he began his life's work as a legendary Post-Impressionist painter and master of bold, vibrant color.

Three of my favorite paintings from the exhibit are included below. However, I must say the conversion into pixels doesn't do them justice.

Les ancêtres de Tahamaha, 1893

Private collection, 1897

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 1898

Gauguin's actual experience in Polynesia didn't mirror the fantasy realm he captured in his paintings. His life was marred by a broken marriage, children in early graves, syphilis, alcoholism, and being an outcast in society. But then again, we don't follow our dreams because they promise us money and a comfortable life, do we? While occasionally those things are a by-product, the more common term we hear bandied about is "starving artist".

Gauguin died penniless at age 54. He painted because he had to.

What is it that you have to do? What does your heart tell you you must do when it's the dead of night and you finally allow yourself to listen? What feeds you? What nourishes your soul ? What do your organs and the marrow in your bones cry out for you to do?

Heed the longings of your heart. Pursue your passion.

Photo Credits: www.wikipedia.org