Yesterday I wrote about the joy of doing your true calling and what you most love as a profession. The Barefoot Bard, Mick Dodge, graced my yard and home with his presence today and began to share some Earth Gym training tips. He is a truly inspiring example of someone living his dream and walking his talk. One need only spend a short time with him to feel the practical brilliance he carries and shares so freely. He brought over one of his favorite old growth forest sticks and swinging stones in the elk skin bags and invited me to try dancing with them. It was SUPER FUN and really anamazing full body training in resonance with the land. He also really is inspired by butoh, my daily practice and dance.
We are scheming some very exciting new and great collaborations--so stay tuned for many announcements and new training films soon to come.
He sent me the message below after our session and when I read it I felt it said everything I wanted to share about today's dance and more, so he is the first MomoButoh guest writer/bard to appear in this blog. Hope there will be more great guest contributions like this to come.
Yoish!
Thank you for sharing food and foot. It was a good day and good sharing for me.
I have been on foot for a long time stealing shoes and reminding soles to foot the dance of the land and remember their primal (prime animal) inheritance by stepping out of the "defeeted" stride of domestication and follow their naked soles into wildings of the land.
Engaging a "Animist" like you shifts me into a relaxing form, a rhythm of thanks, shifts me into sitting with the fire and breathe "as" wind. Understand that you inspire the desire to move, your practice and presentation, your present to the land, your gesturing of the wilding sings the calling of the land and flames the desire to move. I saw the wind rise.
So why sit? Because it is rare and so wonderful to share with the fire what i witnessed.
Dance "with" the fire, until you dance "as" the fire, is a mantra i was taught while in my cave in the Misty Mountains on the Island of River (the olympics). I had built a fire in my cave and began to train in the movement forms that i had been trained in, fighting. Shadow boxing, throwing punches, kicks, fighting with my shadow on the cave wall. But the fire would distort my moves, weave them into other fluid forms, and so i began to move as those shadows. It was at this time, after years and years of training as a fighter, and training others that i realized that i never liked fighting. What i liked, what i was craving, what i desired was the dance. So i expanded my movement, turned into the fire and filled my wind with the words, "Teach Me!. I accepted the fire as my teacher and began to follow my feet in tracking it's source.
I carried this practice out into the gravel bars, would build a circle of stone, and wait for the sun to rise and begin dancing in the circle, moving as a coal, build into a flame, learning to balance my fire, my desire. I would stay in this cirlce of stone as the flame, as the desire, from sunrise to the sun setting beyond the edge of the land. I realized that the solar fire, was released through the wood of a fire, the wood, trees releasing it's flow. The fire and trees taught me how to craft and cultivate my internal desire. How to place a goal on the desire, as i placed coals on the fire, and use my wind to release the wilding.
So i sat last night at the fire, did not dance. I sat and honored and gave thanks for engaging you on this path, reflected upon your path and dance, and gave thanks for your footing of the land.
Dance As Fire,
Run As Wind,
Embrance the Stone,
Flow as the Water within,
Train in these four ways while in your naked feet,
And with your Touch wide open,
With your heart wide open,
With your soul wide open,
the earth will teach!
Barefoot Bard's Earth Gym Poem spoken with Mick Dodge, danced by Momo to music by Muzikas. See video: http://maureenfreehill.blogspot.com/ "Stick and Stones" Duet with Mick Dodge & Momo to music by Calexico
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