Photo Credit “Reina” by Salvatore di Gregorio
Fridays with Friday have proven quite fruitful!
So if you read my blog you will know that as a child I wanted to be a dancer and had quite literally talked my way into dance classes. I wanted to be a choreographer because I could see movement and feel music within music – and even if I was not the best dancer, I thought if I learned how to dance, I would be able to teach others. I had a male dance teacher tell me once that I should consider gymnastics because with my hips being so wide and my height I had the perfect center of gravity – now that may have been a backhanded compliment of sorts – but what did gymnastics have to do with music and dancing in the mind of a child – the message was I was not good enough to dance, how wrong he was!
I recently learned faith is a muscle – the muscle of controlling your thoughts and the ability to live in the present and not the past is understanding that you can create a new beginning. That is exactly what taking Kiberly Miguel Mullen’s Afro Caribe dance class allowed me to do – redefine my relationship with dance. Two words LOVED IT!
Kimberly teaches dances that originate with the Yoruba in Nigeria and the Orishas. As enslaved peoples were transported from Africa to the Caribbean, they could not practice their religion and created dance to celebrate their religious practice. For our first class we danced to Eleggua’, the gate keeper of the roads whose colors are red and black – he is also the trickster; we danced to Shango’ the Orisha of thunder, lightening, fire, and the drum whose colors are red and white, and we finished dancing to Oshun the Orisha of sweetness, love and beauty, fresh waters – and if wronged she can be a force to be reckoned with.
Kimberly had live drummers that were most excellent and made for a transformative experience. On this day the class was all women, they chanted the language of the Orishas. In this dance class of all women, I was able to wash in female energy expressing the dance movements of male Orisha’s and able to embrace both energy forms. Kimberly brought custom folk dance skirts for us to wear when we danced Oshun. The movements were soft and flowing and in the end we sat in a circle and laughed and appreciated our beauty with the movements. I actually was brought to tears because there was a feeling of being sensual without the judgement of men, media, or advertisers to say we were anything other than beautiful women. This was a class where you could be flat footed and still be great. There are times when I just was lost in the movement with myself and the beat of the drum – that experience was so liberating. I remember looking through the class at the women of different ages, body types and ethnicities, and they danced to the grace of their own movements and for me it was a celebration – no one particularly fit into whatever the societal norm’s for so called beauty are and yet we radiated to me like beautiful flowers. Through life as women there is often this aesthetic to live up to and it was freeing to be in a class to move your body and to enjoy the movement for your own sake.
During certain motions like, and forgive me as this is me giving my best descriptions, making the heart to the head – the thoughts that came to me were you are worthy, you are amazing, you are happy. And then when you go from that position and exhale hands down and extend the hands out – it is as if that is the energy you are supposed to give to the world with love. Kimberly’s class was an amazing way for me to celebrate feminine energy, to be pleased with me, and to get in a great workout. Do not be afraid to discover who you are, live, love, laugh, and dance of course!
Classes are Saturdays at The Electric Lodge at 1416 Electric Avenue, Venice CA 90291 from 10:40AM – 12:10PM and costs $20. Please remember a love donation for the drummers. For more information on Kimberly Mullen and her classes please check out her website at http://www.kimberlymiguelmullen.com/ Photos courtesy of John Dedenis.
Uapologetically,
Friday
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