softly...gently

One of the most emotionally moving pieces of dance I saw this year was Lightfoot Leon's "Softly As I Leave You," performed by wife and husband team, Drew Jacoby and Rubinald Pronk. It's raw power is everything I look for in an emotional connection, whether on a stage or off (though if I had an experience like this in my regular-day life, my head might, literally, explode). A light focuses on Drew inside a wooden box on a bare stage. As she begins to move, she agitates against the boxes confines, lifting, banging, straining limbs, seeming to want to break down her surroundings. In the shadows, Rubinald is seen slowly creeping toward her. As he joins her, finally, inside their confinement I literally let out a gasp because the visceral yearning I felt for them to join each other was potent. So much so that I didn't mind he'd climbed inside her wooden box, rather than taking her out into a wider space. But then she slips away, out from under his grasp. And it's gutting in a way. She's gone, and where I thought I should be happy she now has space to move, I was instead absolutely rooting for her to get back in the box with him...
So much was relayed in these few intense moments of movement that I felt how words can so often fail...
(If you're a Facebook member, you can become a fan of theirs at Jacoby & Pronk and click on some of their amazing performances. Sadly, this particular piece is nowhere to be found on film...If no Facebook, then google or YouTube them. It's worth it.)

(but here are some words that do convey:)

Dance, when you’re broken open.
Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off.
Dance in the middle of the fighting.
Dance in your blood.
Dance, when you’re perfectly free.
-Rumi