what if you danced more?

Like, everyday?10 minutes, right after you wake up perhaps. Roll out of bed, find your way to the floor. Notice your breath, see what arises and follow the thread, first thing in the morning. Two students of mine have been doing this for awhile now. They made a pact with each other — a simple nod when they see each other in class -- "I'm dancing every morning...you?" What’s happened is that they are able to “drop-in” more quickly, with more depth, and for longer periods of time.

The work I am embarking on in class, and in my performance work...it's elusive. It’s easy to wonder what the f**ck is going on when attention is not being paid to breath and sensation...when trust has not been formed in connection to oneself. It’s a slippery slope, and it’s easy to fall off if awareness to the moment is not being held with respect. So try dancing more to understand and trust that slope more fully. 10 minutes every morning. Ask a friend to join you. Give a simple nod indicating yes, I danced a little more this week. Sure, take the weekends off, that’s a good idea. And then start again on Monday. See what happens when you give yourself permission to dance every single day. Let me know how it goes by telling me about it here.

The poem below is from a writing exercise we did in class one Friday.

It's by Helen Turner, who dances, every single day:

What is this place, these 3 hours on a Friday morning?

Is this dance?

When is this dance?

When does this become dance?

Does this become dance?

My thoughts are pushing into my bones, through my muscles. They want to be included. Usually I wait for you to quieten down, fade into the sound scape, hangout with the train and the meadowlark, the sound of children’s voices.

I bake in the sun, half in and half out of the French doors. Skin and sun, the hairs on my skin, thinking, the sun on my eyelids making my mouth tilt upwards, thinking.

Let us make a space for everything.

An empty internal canvas dotted with the color of words, a stroke of magenta, now orange.

From the bones the thoughts move, tasting each bone. Is there greeting? There is greeting.

I want to kneel on just the one knee, like she does. My arms come together over the knee and suddenly I am here, right here, right now, and Jo says “5 more minutes”, and I think “Oh dear, I just arrived”. But then I think, “that’s what we have”, and I’m in the dance, a bit wobbly but staying with it and I’m here and gone and then there is another 5 minutes. So here we all are. It is enough.

And then, I find the birds and I know now why I showed up this morning.

With Warmth, Joanna of Joanna and The Agitators sweetly agitating/persistently upending www.joannaandtheagitators.com

PS:

1. SUMMER DANCE CLASSES:

The summer session starts on Tuesday, June 6th and runs through Thursday, August 31st...will I see you there?

“I was deciding between seeing the Dali Lama and coming to class today…I choose class.” – Simone.  “Me too!!” — Suzzy.  

"I feel free."  -- Linda Stonerock, Current Student of 13 years

"I can find someone else’s breath in the room when I cannot locate my own.” — Helen Turner, current student of 12 years

"I walk in the world differently because of this class." -- Nancy Ruff, Current Student of 4 months

"I am going to do this for the rest of my life.” — Liza Patrick, Current student of three years

Click here for more info about the summer dance session.

2. DOG DANCE, Performance and Workshop:

Performance:  This Friday, May 19th, 7pm at Floorspace, $10.

Workshop:   This Saturday, May 20th, 1-4pm, Boulder Circus Center $69 (includes ticket to performance on Friday night).  There is only one spot left in this workshop. Let me know ASAP if you are interested in attending.

“Joanna creates earthquakes.  She re-aligns the universe.”    — Julie Rothschild, Owner of Julie Rothschild Movement

“The generosity of Dog Dance is invaluable."  Audience member at February's performance 

"Stunning. Just Stunning."  -- Freddi Acora, Audience member at Current Student.

“Thank you for holding the space in which I could unfold…safely, quietly, loudly, in my own time.” –– Margaret Harris, student for 11 years before moving to Jackson Hole, Wyoming!

"(The workshop) was wonderful. I couldn't say why... because it is just too potent for me. I'm not sure I have words for it still, but they are coming....been dog dancing every day since... so rich." -- Abi Averitt, participant in Learning Dog Dance and Audience Member

“I was SO craving class after your STUNNING performance of Dog Dance last night” — Simone Key, current student of five years, participant in Learning Dog Dance, and audience member.

"Wonder. I've been thinking about wonder."  -- Helen Turner, student and repeat audience member at Dog Dance.

Click here for more info about Dog Dance.

Remember When You Were Ten?

Do you remember turning 10?

How exquisitely sad that moment was for you?

You were - and would be for the next 90 years - a double digit.

Never EVER would you be a single digit again.

The agony of that.

I cried for hours the night I turned 10, cuddled in bed with my sister and my mother.

My sister, only 7 at the time, was curled up behind me. 

She clutched a handful of my pink flowered nightgown in one hand, and patted me on the back of my head with the other.

My mother, who was lying on the other side of me, held my hand and stroked my forehead.

It was sweetly painful, to feel the deep loss of my singular digit status.

I am in a similar state now, not because of any age I am turning, but because there is a profound loss happening.

And though it is devastating in a certain way,  it is -  in another way  - sweet, pleasurable, and immensely gratifying.

I am talking about dancing.

This is what is happening:

I am attempting to sift through the debris until the root of dancing is found.

I am asking myself:

What is essential?

What is true?

What is urgent, necessary and vital?

I am waiting.

Waiting for the dust to settle.

Waiting for my body and my being, to be free.

Waiting for the cellular frame - both inside and outside the body -  to shift and re-locate itself so that the fall into the dancing may begin.

This dance finds itself within a mysterious, complex, and ever changing relationship to the human form.

Movement systems connect and couple with this molecular re-patterning within the body, inside of the universe, and among the stars.

The stars, which, when one is dancing, are essential.

Essential, because it is through the dancing that there becomes a  “felt” sense - rather than an intellectual knowing - that we are made up of the same material as the stars, and the stars are made up of the same material as us.

All separation then, dissolves.

Time and space tilt, rupture, wrinkle, fold, and twist in on themselves to unearth the thing that has always been there:  the magical, supernatural, shamanistic, mystical and witchy realms of  the human experience.

In the minutia and never ending to-do lists  of daily living, we forget that this element of existence is there at all times:   shimmering under the surface.

I am attempting, in my dancing, to bring the shimmering out from underneath.

I am attempting, in my dancing, to encounter and shimmer with the witch.

do not choose the lesser life.

do you hear me.

do you hear me.

choose the life that is. yours.

the life that is seducing your lungs.

that is dripping down your chin.

-Nayyirah Waheed

With Warmth and Jivey Vibes,

Joanna

of

Joanna and The Agitators

sweetly agitating/persistently upending

www.joannaandtheagitators.com

xoxo jo

You Might Now Want To Read This

But you're reading it did anyway, I see. So I guess I have to go ahead and bite the bullet then, huh?

I have to tell you about that thing that I’ve been putting off telling you about.

That thing that I was hoping would never come up in our conversation.

And that thing is that I’m terrified:

Terrified of dancing in front of people and looking like a fool.

Terrified I’ll be found out to be a fraud.

Terrified no one will show up.

Terrified that they will.

And on the other hand, I’m eager.

Eager enough to engage in the work of showing up so that the terror is quieted.

Sometimes.

Sometimes the terror is so immense, I freeze in place and can’t move until the sun comes up, and even then it takes me a few more days to completely thaw out.

There was a long period of time when I was dancing in a way where I couldn’t feel anything.

I couldn’t feel my body.

I couldn’t feel my mind, my spirit, or my connection to something bigger.

If I wasn’t dancing though, I felt itchy, antsy, and unsettled.

So I kept dancing.

I kept executing the movement as it was presented to me, carefully following the instructions.

If I was dancing for long enough stretches of time, it kept the terror at bay.

And then….

Well, then the terror welled up in such a way that I had to stop, disengage, and withdraw from dancing altogether so that I wouldn’t disappear.

And what I have to tell you, which I don’t want to tell you, is that I’m in a place of terror again.

Something is different in how I’m approaching dancing, living, being, experiencing, sensing, and I am uncertain and afraid.

But this time, I’m not disengaging or withdrawing from the dancing.

I’m not freezing

(That is so not true: I’m totally freezing. But at least I can recognize that I’m freezing).

This time, I’m listening, as best as I can, and I’m leaping in.

I have no idea if this “leaping in” thing is the smartest thing to do in this situation.

What if I twist an ankle?

What if, mid-leap, I disappear?

What if, god forbid, I look like a fool?

I’m leaping in anyway, because I need to know where I will land.

You have two dance missions this week:

Take your long arms that you imagined last week, and now dance from the fingertips of those long arms. 2. Notice when you feel afraid. Keep showing up anyway, and when you are ready, leap.

Feel free to post a comment here.

And if you like what you just read, please share this newsletter far and wide.

The more people who read this, the more dancing there will be.

Which we need right now, desperately.

With Warmth and Jivey Vibes, Joanna of Joanna and The Agitators sweetly agitating/persistently upending www.joannaandtheagitators.com

3 simple steps to end all suffering

Did you think this was spam?

Or a virus?

Nah, it’s just me!

I can’t tell you how to end all suffering!

I sure wish I could.

Wouldn’t that be something.

But I can tell you how to start improvising.

I can’t do it in 3 steps though.

I have to do it in 10.

Ready??

Great, here we go:

1.    Notice your breath.

2.    Notice where your eyes are.

3.    Notice the sensations in your body.

4.    On your exhale, move.

5.    On your inhale, be still.

6.    During the gaps between the inhale and exhale, notice what you hear.

7.    Trust that you know what to do.

8.    Keep going.

9.    Look up, look down, look from one side and then the other.  Notice how the looking can lead your body through space

10.  Now close your eyes, and start dancing for just 10 seconds.

How did that feel?

Try  the 10 steps again.

1     Notice your breath.

2.    Notice where your eyes are.

3.    Notice the sensations in your body.

4.    On your exhale, move.

5.    On your inhale, be still.

6.    During the gaps between the inhale and exhale, notice what you hear

7.    Trust that you know what to do.

8.    Keep going.

9.    Look up, look down, look from one side and then the other.  Notice how the looking can lead your body through space.

10.  Now close your eyes, and start dancing, but this time dance for 30 seconds.

Now give yourself one whole minute to see what arises.

Start from lying down on the floor in an x position, or sitting in a chair, or just standing in the middle of your kitchen.

Whatever you want to do, right now and at this very moment, do it.

Do you want to skip, twirl, be still, or lift your arms as slowly as you can to make bird wings?

Do you want to flap your bird wings, shake your head back and forth, or bark like a dog?

That was fantastic.

I think you have the beginning of a solo.

Okay, now I want you to start again, and this time you are going to notice what arises for the next 5 minutes.

Are you swooping? Are you still? or Are you scared?

Are you high stepping? Are you humming? or Are you making kissing noises out the window at the neighbor?

Interesting…..

Now do it for 10 minutes.  

Start from lying down on the floor in an x position, or sitting in a chair, or just standing in the middle of your kitchen.

Set a timer for 10 minutes.

Follow your body and your sensation and your delight and your instinct.

Was there any type of uproar or was it quiet?

Do you want to do it again??

You do?

Okay.

Do it again.   And again. And again.

That is how to start improvising.

No, I didn’t end all suffering today.  

I’m really sorry about that.

But I hope I got your improvising.

Because in a very tiny way -- and sometimes in a huge and gigantic way that I don't know to articulate -- I think improvising is essential.

It won't ever end all suffering, but it might make it a bit less painful. 

As always, I love hearing from you.

Post your comments here, and then share this on social media or with a friend. 

With Warmth and Jivey Vibes, Joanna of Joanna and The Agitators sweetly agitating/persistently upending www.joannaandtheagitators.com

i don't think you can dance

I KNOW YOU CAN.

Last week I asked you to stop whatever you were doing and just move for 10 seconds.

Let’s do that again.

Stop reading and start moving.  

However you want.

In whatever way feels good to you.

Fast or slow or clunky or smooth or unsure, with longing or without, with a calm mind or with a crazy fast moving mind that just won’t stop.

The only rule is to notice your breath, and notice how you feel.

Just do it:

I will count again:

1

potato

2

potato

3

potato

4

potato

5

potato….etc., and you can count the rest.

How did that feel?

Sometimes it's easy to forget how easy it is to just start dancing.

For example:

I was getting my passport stamped at the airport in Norway.

Every time someone came up to his window, the passport stamper guy would say:

“Name.  Age.  Occupation”

in a horribly monotone voice that droned on and on and on.

When it was finally my turn to get my passport stamped and I answered his 3 question, ending with my occupation — choreographer —  the passport stamper guy looked up, gave me a huge smile and said:

“Oh.  You mean like this?”

He stood up and did a dance in his little plastic passport booth.

Yes, I thought to myself.

Exactly passport stamper guy, exactly.

I asked my students the other day to tell me why they dance.

This was one of the responses I got:

“I'm dancing so that I can remember who I am. I'm dancing so that I can re-member my body.”

 —  Paulette Fire.

Yes, I thought to myself.

Exactly Paulette, exactly.

If the passport guy in Norway can dance in his little plastic booth with vitality and bravado, then you can too.

If the reason to dance is to remember who you are, then get to it.   

There are parts of you just longing to be remembered, so don’t ignore them.  They deserve more than that.

The next dancing session that I am offering starts on June 13th.

That gives you a little over a month to dust off your dancing pants and come join me.

What you need to know before I dive into the logistics of how things are going to go this summer, is that this class isn’t for everyone.   

I’m not interested in having you make a pretty line or do it the right way,

and

I’m not interested in having you dance to the right counts,

and

I’m not interested in how high you can leap or how fast you can spin,

and

I’m not interested in your grace or your strength or your agility.

I’m interested in your imagination, your honesty, your curiosity, your instincts, and your dreams.

I’m interested in guiding you to find extraordinary freedom in your body and your dancing.

To take a class with me, you have to be interested in not knowing and be okay with not knowing.

There needs to be a level of trust that one thing will lead to the next.

Or that it won’t, and that is just as good.

There is a feeling in my classes that you can do more than you thought you were capable of doing.

That you are free to try.

The dancing starts to become more then you ever could have imagined.

That is when the magic happens.

If this piques your interest, keep reading to get more information about the logistics of how everything is going to go.

If it doesn’t, or if you aren't local, then scroll on down to the bottom of the page to get your dance mission for the week!!

********************************************************************************************************

I am making a few changes for this upcoming session.

The 1st change is that the price has gone up to reflect the longer class time, added events, and merchant fees.

The 2nd change is the that I am going to try out a punch card system to give you more flexibility in your comings and goings.

The 3rd is that all payments will now be processed through pay pal to make it easier and more convenient for you.

So here’s the dealio:

1. Class Times and Locations: 

The summer session will run from June 13th-August 15th and will take place in the upstairs dance studio (The Trixie Room) at The Boulder Circus Center.

Classes will take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays:

Tuesday: 11-1pm

Thursday: 11-1pm

Saturday: 10-12pm

THERE WILL BE NO CLASS ON:

SATURDAY, JULY 4TH

TUESDAY, JULY 21ST

THURSDAY, JULY 23RD

SATURDAY, JULY 25TH

PLEASE NOTE:  Saturday, July 11th will be a site-specific dance day on the St. Vrain Trail, just outside of Jamestown.    This will be a longer day than normal because of the location and nature of this particular class.  Please set aside 5-6 hours that day for class.  This time will include driving time, dancing and writing time, and a picnic lunch.  I will include more details as we get closer to this date.

2. Fees and Punch Card and Make-Ups:

1 class per week (8 classes for the session): $206 

2 classes per week (16 classes for the session): $382

3 classes per week (24 classes for the session): $573

If you don’t use all the punches on your card  by August 15th, you can bring a guest to class to use that extra punch.

The Enrollment Period will be from: June 1st-June 12th.

I will send you a link to register for your punch card of 1, 2, or 3 classes per week throughout June 1st and June 12th so that you have ample time to enroll.

3. Refund Policy:

If you get to the end of the session after participating in all of the classes that you have signed up for and are disgruntled and dissatisfied, then I will happily refund 100% of your money.    

NOTE:  To be eligible for a refund, I require that you attend all 8, 16, or 24 classes that you sign up for when you purchase your punch card.

It is important to me that this class provides you with freedom and magic in your dancing. This means you must show up. 

I know that if you continually show up, you will access parts of yourself that you didn’t know were there, just waiting to be remembered.

If you show up and still don’t get value from your experience, then l will refund you 100% of your  class fee, no questions asked.

4. Performance:

On Saturday, August 15th there will be an informal performance of the work we have been practicing together over the summer.  You choose if you want to participate in this event or not.

And now, finally!!

YOUR DANCE MISSION:  

Your dance mission for the week is to dance to these 3 songs, in any order you want, at anytime of the day that you want.   THEN dance for 3 minutes in silence.  But you have to dance to all 3 songs including your 3 minutes of silence, before you get your next newsletter from me.

1. We Found Love by Calvin Harris and Rhianna

2.. Bowspirit by Balmorhea

3. Fyrsta by Ólafur Arnalds

Then:

Leave a comment about your experience here and share this blog with that one friend who is secretly yearning to dance, but hasn’t broken through.

As Always, 

With so much Warmth,

Joanna

of

Joanna and The Agitators

sweetly agitating/persistently upending

www.joannaandtheagitators.com

stop making excuses

GET OFF OF FACEBOOK AND START DANCING.  

If you just took the time to read that sentence, you can take that same amount of time to dance. Let me be more specific:

At this very moment, stand up from your chair, or stay seated, either works, and move your body RIGHT NOW for 10 seconds.

It doesn’t have to be lovely or dancerly or witty or smart.

You can be as slow or as fast as feels right to you at this moment.

Just move.

And if you are in a public place, do it anyway, ‘cause in the end, who cares?

I’ll count so you don’t have to:

1 Mississippi 2 Mississippi 3 Mississippi 4 Mississippi 5 Mississippi 6 Mississippi 7 Mississippi 8 Mississippi 9 Mississippi 10 Mississippi

Excellent!!!!

I am hearing too many excuses lately about why you aren’t dancing enough.

Something needs to change.

You only live once.

Or depending on what you believe, maybe 2, 3, 4, or 1,000 times.

(I don’t know if I believe in past lives or not, but I had this super strong image the first time I met Glen. I was in a toga walking down a cobbled stone street in ancient Rome. I stopped by an open air shop, and saw a man with a long beard, also in a toga, in the process of inventing the wheel. He caught my eye, smiled, said he needed a break from inventing the wheel, and would I like to join him for some figs. The rest is/was history.)

For this exercise, let’s keep it simple and say:

BECAUSE YOU — IN THIS PARTICULAR HUMAN CONFIGURATION — WILL ONLY BE ON THIS PLANET ONCE.

Ask yourself this:

Are you dancing enough?

When you are on your deathbed:

Will you be filled with contentment, peace, and ease remembering your feet in contact with the earth, feeling your breath as you spin?

or

Will you be wondering why you spent so much time on Facebook rather than tripping the light fantastic. (I just found that phrase in the thesaurus when I was looking up other words for dancing…isn’t it great?)

Difficult question to think about, I know, but super duper important in the larger scheme of things.

And this whole dancing thing?

It isn’t just about you:

Dancing is different than anything else we do in our daily lives in terms of movement.

• It isn’t like going to the gym.
• It isn’t like taking a hike.
• It isn’t like stepping outside for a run or a walk or a snowshoe or a bicycle ride.
• Now don’t get me wrong, I love doing all of these things, and I am not giving them up so I can dance.

Dancing is it’s own thing, and happens in its own time.

It has no beginning and no ending.

It is not about being fast or strong or pretty or graceful or clever or good.

It is circular, which means it is about the truth of what is happening at this very moment and following THAT rather than following the clock or the finish line or the mirror.

When I don’t dance, and I am just doing my hiking and swimming, I am not tapping into the circular part of who I am, which means I am not giving myself fully and generously to the people around me.

But when I am dancing and engaging myself creatively, my focus and curiosity about the wider world grows.

I have more space, time, and desire to give and remain present with my community, my family, and my friends.

I become bountiful.

And when I am bountiful, I begin to engage and partake in making the world a better place.

So let’s figure this out:

Do you want to be dancing more?

____ YES

____ NO

If you answered NO, than thank the high high heavens, and I will see you next week.

If you answered YES, then here is one super simple thing you can do right now to get yourself dancing:

GET OFF OF FACBOOK.

Now, I am not bashing Facebook. I secretly love scrolling through my newsfeed after a long day and seeing what’s up

(OMG did you see the video about the dog skateboarding? Soooooooo cute: https://youtu.be/NtYSuKIljKE ).

Just start to spend a little less time on it.

If you spend roughly one hour a day on Facebook, choose to spend 50 minutes on it instead, and use that extra 10 minutes to dance.

One reason to spend less time on Facebook (and computers in general) is because of the manner in which we focus when we are engaged with technology.

As I am writing this blog, my focus is extremely narrow. I am looking at, and concentrating on, a very narrow piece of the world around me.

And I need to do that right now.

That narrow focus is helpful and beneficial to the task at hand.

However, if I am spending too much time in that narrow focus space, I begin to loose my concentration, my efficiency, my delight, my ease, and my sense of overall well-being.

I can feel it viscerally when I have spent to much time on the computer.

• I start to tighten up.
• My breath gets a little more shallow.
• I start to rush through my work.
• My heart starts beating a little bit faster.
• My creativity, spontaneity, and problem-solving abilities begin to falter.
• Most importantly, it stops being fun, engaging, interesting, and, beneficial. Instead, I am just going through the motions as fast as I can.
• Right after I send this to you, I am going to dance for 10 minutes to widen my focus again before getting back on the computer to answer emails.

Your dance mission for the week is to log out of Facebook 10 minutes sooner than you normally would, put on some amazing music, and dance.

Here are the songs I would recommend (I can’t figure out how to put a link to the actual song here and just send you directly to it….do you know how to do that? If so, can you tell me so I can do it next time?)

1. Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars (I just danced to this before starting to work on this blog….it was soooo fun. Once I press send I am going to dance to it again).

2. Var by Sigur Rós

3. Singing Bridge by Rachel’s

Do this for 3 days in a row, and then post your comment here.

Once you have posted your commented (and you know how much I love it when you post a comment) share this on Facebook or Pinterest or whatever, HA HA HA, but make sure to give yourself at least 10 minutes once you have completed your social media tasks,

TO DANCE.

With Warmth and Jivey Vibes, Joanna of Joanna and The Agitators sweetly agitating/persistently upending

are you moving slow enough?

One of my favorite things to do is to lie down on the floor and to start moving as slowly as I can for as long as I want to, anyway I want.

When I give myself permission, really give myself permission to move as slowly as I want for as long as I want, I usually move in that snail space for about an hour and then naturally my body begins to speed up and take up more space.  Sometimes it doesn’t though, and I stay slow for a very long time.

I made a dance with Melinda Buckwalter  when I was in grad school called  Falling Slow.  Me and Melinda found staircases all over the Bennington College Campus and rolled as slowly as we could up each staircase.  

I loved doing that.

The  awareness of my body comes into focus through a new lens when I move slow.

There is space to feel and understand the pathways and the systems of my body in a new way.

But to be really honest, I rarely give myself the time to move this slowly for that amount of time, especially when I am alone.

So, I am starting.

To move slowly through space in whatever way I want to move.

There is the slow food movement, the slow sex movement, the slow work & business movement,  so why not start a movement that is about movement?

Slow movement.

Are you moving slowly right now?

Reaching for your cup of coffee really super slow.

Tilting your head to look out the window - as slowly as you can.

Doing a little arm dance right now at the computer oh so slowly.

And I am way into low-ambition right now (thank you Kristen Wheeler) but if you have just a little bit of ambition, why not get down on the floor and roll as slowly as you can across whatever room you are in. 

Can you do it even slower?

I think something happens to your cells when you move this slow.  Something good, something wise, something amazing.  

Someone told me that once.  

I have a feeling it is true.

So move slowly through your day and notice what happens.

Your dance mission for the week is:

To do a slow dance sometime over the weekend.  Just for a minute or two.  

And if it goes on a little bit longer than a minute or two, GREAT!

And if it goes on a little bit less than a minute or two, GREAT!

Just see what happens.

Notice your breath.

Feel your body against the earth.

And this is not so much about moving slowly, but more about falling fast and then slow and it is really amazing.

You have to watch it until the end.

http://on.fb.me/1MeqllZ

Thank you Emily Saavedra for sending it my way.

With Warmth, Joanna of Joanna and the Agitators sweetly agitating/persistently upending

serious business

Last March something HUGE happened.

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

…

I signed up for an online business course.

No, seriously,

I did.

Really.

(I hear you laughing).

I signed up for an online business course last year.

And I completed it.

With bells on.

It has been one of the best, most amazing, mind bending educational experiences I have had in a long long time.

Speaking of, my skate skiing lessons are also pretty amazing and mind bending.

I only fell once today.

No, twice.  

I only fell twice.

Or was it 3 times?  

My neurons are growing, they are growing, and they are still growing.

I got a private lesson from an Ultimate Running Coach today, and holy shit.  Sorry to swear, but my god, it was like I was on the Olympic Skate Skiing Team and I suddenly blossomed into this worthy and noble athlete who overcame all of the odds there are to overcome.

That feeling lasted for one whole minute, and then I fell over again.

So we went back to the beginning where all I focused on was my heel pushing into the earth and then lifting up my toes so I could get a bit of a glide.  

But back to me and this business course I am talking about:

This WAS/IS one of the best, most amazing, dare I say GREATEST experiences I have been  part of, and I am gearing up to do it all over again because I just tapped the surface of what is possible.

I will tell you the name of this business course tomorrow AND I will send  a link so that you can go and check this course out for yourself.  

I bet you can guess what I am talking about though.

I probably already told you about it many many times,

because I am a bit obsessed and I can’t stop talking about it.  

I can’t stop talking about it because it has changed everything for me.  

And not in that big-explosive-fire-lava-meteor-lottery-blazing kind of way, 

but in that slow and steady turtle-wins-the race kind of way.  

Which means it is still happening, this change.  

This reevaluation of living.  

This reevaluation of how I spent my time.  

This shift in paradigm about being an artist out in the world.

So everything is still adjusting in that slow, most delicious, and lovely sort of way,

which is why I  keep talking about it.   

I continue to be amazed.

I am just looking back on this year and noticing how much has changed since I signed up for this business course:

How much more at peace I am with my place in the world.

How much more time I get to spend dancing.

How much more down time I have to rest, relax, and move through the world slowly.

How much more I trust my process in terms of creativity, work, relationships, life. 

How much more easily I sleep.

How much more deeply I breath.

How I don’t get anxious or worry about money so much anymore.

How much more I love and value the time I spend teaching and rehearsing and cultivating my dance practice.

I am learning how to listen to my body in a brand new way.

I still have a long way to go, but I am starting.

So this is what happens next:

Tomorrow, Thursday February 5th, I am going to send you another email.

The subject line will read: this is what i’m talking about

I invite you to open it up and see what’s inside.

See if your interest is piqued.  

Notice if you have any questions.

And feel what you feel what you feel.

Whatever that may be.

Today’s email is just me saying how grateful I am to my friend Marcie Goldman, who tugged on my sleeve last winter and said, “Hey, I think you should sign up for this class.  I think you might like it.”

Tomorrow’s email will be is me tugging on your sleeve, saying “Hey, I think you might like this.”

Your Dance Mission for this week is from the lovely Johannah Franke:  

Instead of doing one 10 minute dances once a day, try doing a few 10 second dances throughout your day. Notice what happens.

(And if you love the 10 minute dances once a day, by all means, keep going).

Here a few examples to get you started on your 10 second dances:

• After you finish drying the dishes, do a little spin and land in an asymmetrical shape.
• When you are hanging your clothes up to dry, do it balancing on one leg.
• In the morning, try skipping to your car.

As always, I love hearing from you.

You can post your comment here:

or email me directly.

With Warmth and Jivey Vibes,

Joanna

of

Joanna and The Agitators

why are dance classes so scary?

I just got this email from a student I had while I was at the Midwest RAD Fest last March.  

He was writing in response to my last email about wanting to cut off my legs  (here’s the link to that one if you happened to miss it…it’s a doozy).

http://bit.ly/1CGcrqB

I wanted to share his words with you, because I think he speaks to many of our fears/trepidations/struggles with dancing in a way that is raw and profound.

His words reminded me of how hard it can be to get one self dancing, which is just so paradoxical and strange, and yet so universal 

(wait…

actually I don’t know about that.  

Is it actually universal?  

Or is it cultural? 

Or familial?  

Or personal?

I would love to hear your thoughts about this, ‘cause I just don’t know).

I mean, in my mind at least, dancing is at the heart of being a human being, right?

Just look at all of those youtube videos of little kids dancing their hearts out when some good music comes on.  

Those little kids don’t care one way or the other what you think about them or their dancing.

They just do it because that is what is materializing in their little bodies at that time.

They are dancing 

when they feel called to dance.

They are dancing

when they hear music that makes them want to dance.

They are dancing

when they just can’t stop themselves from dancing. 

But then,

something happens

and dancing can become a frightening endeavor indeed.

It may, at times, feel impossible to dance.

And I am trying to understand that part of it, for myself and for my students. 

After you read his email, let me know your thoughts about why dancing can be so scary.

Not all the time,

and for some people not ever,

but for some people, sometimes.

And then pass this blog post along to someone you know who is afraid, or is in someway struggling with their dancing.

Here is Jordan’s email to me, with some parts of his email edited out:

“I just wanted to send you my thanks for all of your messages and missions you send out. 

I met you early in the year in March at the Midwest RAD Fest and I can say genuinely that taking your class meant the world to me. 

Just before the class had begun I had almost convinced myself to sit out, thinking through all the usual reasons - "I am not (advanced-flexible-trained-ready) enough for this class," - but the moment your class began I felt all of those usual fears drift away. 

It's been a long time now since I've danced - really since March. 

I've been dealing with a long battle with my mental health, and in the process I've found it harder each day to get myself back on my feet dancing. 

No matter what though, I take the time to read your dance missions. Even if it's only to imagine how I would participate, I make sure to read them. 

It's almost like a small meditation for myself, a reminder that soon enough I'll get back on my feet, and no matter how long it takes, I'll get there.

There are days I want to cut off my own proverbial legs - to somehow rid myself of all the thoughts of wonder that seem outside my grasp. 

But then I find myself here, writing to you on a whim, and in the process trying to remind myself…that no matter how insurmountable things may seem, I just gotta dance. 

I have so many creative censors buzzing over my desire to create, and knowing that there are spaces where people are learning to break down those barriers gives me hope that I'll learn to do the same.”

Once I read this email, and communicated with Jordan back and forth a few times, it became so clear to me how helpful being in connection and communication with someone else is when we are overcoming a fear, or a question, or some sort of obstacle in our dancing.

So, your dance mission for this week is to find someone to dance with.

This dance mission can take on many different forms.

It may be going to a club with a friend and dancing all night long.

It may be talking to someone about dancing, and then going off and dancing on your own, then coming back and telling them how it went.

it may be signing up for a dance class.

It may be having a family dance night in the kitchen after dinner.

It may be inviting a friend over to dance with you on a Saturday afternoon.

Or it may be something else entirely.  

Maybe it means going back to the dance mission from last week and changing on the dial of the radio as you and your partner switch who is dancing and who is switching the dial.

Notice if and how the dancing changes when you are talking about it, doing it, experiencing it,  exploring it, with someone else.  

With warmth and “jivey vibes”  

(that last part, the jivey vibes part, is from Jordan, the student who wrote this email.

I love it.  So I am using it this week as a my sign-off),

Joanna 

of 

Joanna and The Agitators

sweetly agitating/persistently upending

hey dancers: lets break some rules

Let’s start by simply standing up and sitting back down 3 times.  

Excellent.

Do it again, but this time when you stand up, let your head lead your movement.

When you sit back down, let your tail lead your movement.

Try this a few times.

Excellent work!

Now this time, stand up leading with your tail.

Kinda strange, huh?

Well…..

Are you doing it right?

Are you doing it the way I asked you to do it?

Are you doing it in a way that looks good?

Is that what everyone else is doing?

And will I approve?

STOP THE PRESSES STOP THE PRESSES STOP THE PRESSES STOP THE PRESSES STOP THE PRESSES.

Let’s have that conversation again:

Now this time, stand up leading with your tail.

Kinda strange, huh?

Yeah, it’s a little bit strange:

“And I think I am doing it differently then you, and I don’t actually think I am leading with my tail, and I am a bit bent over backward, which is cool, because I have never been bent over backward like this before, and it just feels so weird to lead UP with my tail, but oh well, that’s how my body interprets that instruction…so wild and free and awesome that I am doing it differently then the person next to me and actually (giggle giggle), don’t even know if I am doing it at all like you said to do it, but something is emerging as I am trusting my own pathway within the rule I was just given about my tail leading me up.”

Excellent!!!!!!!

That is what is beautiful about improvisation.

THAT MOMENT when you don’t quite know what is going on,

and at the same time you know EXACTLY what is going on.

It won't be perfect because improvisation is not perfect.

That is the joy and the surprise and the rapture of it.

That radiant struggle of finding your way within the rules that have been laid out.

That is where the beauty is.

No, it isn’t necessarily pretty.

I don’t care about pretty.

I care about you becoming the animal making her way to higher ground.

I care about you becoming the animal that feels her hooves against the wet earth as she runs up the mountain next to all of the other animals running up the mountain -

trusting that prehistoric instinct to get to higher ground before the floods come.

Will you trip and fall and flounder sometimes?

Yes.

Will you turn right when you were instructed to turn left?

Yes. Will you lope instead of leap? Skitter instead of skip? Run instead of walk?

Yes and Yes and Yes.

This is just you finding your way within the rules laid out for you.

You will do it differently than the person next to you.

You will do it differently than how I am doing it. You will do it in a way that is not scientifically plausible or historically accurate.

Because you are an animal, a wild beast, a monster, and a snake.

You are the one underneath the carpet of earth, shaping the mountains and the valleys and the waterways.

Let's try standing up and sitting down three times.

Now try leading with your head as you stand up, and leading with your tail as you sit down.

Now try it leading with your tail as you stand up.

Notice how that feels.

Let your instinct lead you more than my instruction.

Let me repeat that:

Let your instinct lead you more than my instruction.

Your dance mission for the week is to:

1. Follow a rule to the tea. 2. Modify or change a rule. 3. Break a rule.

Then I want you to send this email along to two people.

Send it to someone who tends to follow the rules

and send it to someone who tends to break the rules.

See what they have to say.

By the way, if you like what you just read and are interested in reading more, you can sign-up for my newsletter below.

Whether you are brand new to dancing or started your dance career in the womb, I would love to hear your thoughts about dancing and the creative process.

[mc4wp_form]

With Warmth,

Joanna

of

Joanna and The Agitators sweetly agitating/persistently upending

i will not be going to mars

Have you heard this?On the radio, driving home from a long day of working and dancing and grocery shopping and errand running and tea drinking with friends? That a group of 4 people will go to Mars in 2023? 4 people. Two women and two men -- are set to leave for Mars in September 2022. They will land in April 2023. And they only get a one way ticket. That means they can't come back.

No matter what. Egads. That sounds AWFUL.

I am a pretty adventurous, but a one way ticket to MARS?

Not in this life. Or the next.

Okay, maybe the one after that, but only if I get to come back to Colorado every year in the fall.

This got me thinking about what an adventure is and who is drawn to what sort of adventure when.

I feel like for me, my adventures have softened.

Did I really just say that? Am I already at that stage in my life when I have soft adventures instead of loud and raucous ones? Is this what they call radical acceptance?

But it's true, they have softened. I still love hiking and traveling and being outside, but I also love being home and moving slowly through the day. And that feels like an adventure because I get to follow each moment with precision and care.

Laura Ann came up yesterday, last minute, and we spent the day together improvising in the morning and then catching up on work in the afternoon. We ate fermented food (I chewed, she gulped the juice down like it was water) and talked and were slow.

And right now I am sitting in the kitchen. There is a bouquet of lavender tulips on the table and I can smell them and it is glorious. The sun and the breeze and the quiet. I am aware of how big the universe is, and yet Mars seems like it is right next door.

And what I mean when I say that is this: Improvising is like traveling to Mars.

Because it too is unknown. And once I am in, I am in. I follow what is in front of me. I sense my body. I sense the world. I notice who I am close to and who I am far away from. I notice what is needed in the space and at what point. I follow the internal pull for movement and for stillness. When I am improvising, I become limitless.

So, all I am saying is that you don't have to go to Mars to become infinite.

You can do that everyday at home, even if it is just for a second.

So, whatever you are doing, stand up now.

Notice how long your exhale is. Notice how long our inhale is. Notice the gaps in between the exhale and the inhale, and the inhale and the exhale. Feel your feet on the earth.

Bend your knees slightly. Lift your toes up, spread them out, and set them down again. Look up. Look down. Look straight in front of you. And then look somewhere else. And somewhere else. And somewhere else.

Now move your arms continuously for 10 counts. Noticing your breath as you move.

Take 3 steps forward and do this sequence again. And again. And again.

Let me know how it goes by posting about it on my newly furbished website:

http://bit.ly/1u1Ytu1

or on the facebook dance missions page:

http://on.fb.me/1tndQsd

I would love to hear from you.

With Warmth, Joanna of Joanna and The Agitators

3 simple steps to get rich quick (yeah, right)

Glen and I are leaving tomorrow to take my niece and her friend to Denver for a few days, so I am writing you today.

My plan was to take a VIDEO in our brand-spanking-new culvert that just got put in after the flood last September.  

Because it is silver.  And big.  And I can walk in it and do a little dance.

But.

It is raining.  

Hard.

And there are flash flood warnings.

So.

I am not going to take a video of myself in the culvert today.

Instead I am going to give you 3 simple tips to get rich quick.

(Are you laughing out loud? I am….)

STEP 1:

Ummmm….. Ahem. Uh….

STEP 2:

Well…. Sheesh, I dunno…

STEP 3:

Fuggetaboutit. I just can’t help you with that one.

Well shoot.  Try to step out of your comfort zone and look what happens.

So I am stepping back in.

But before I go, a quick little tidbit about someone who did step out of their comfort zone this weekend at the Family Dance Day, and it was AMAZING.

A dad came, thinking he was going to sit on the sidelines and watch his kids dance while he clapped politely.

That is not what happens at a family dance day.

Oh no.

What happens is that families dance together. 

Wildly. Crazily. With zest and chutzpah.  

At some point, I usually say something like “Okay!  Who wants to do a solo??” And most of the time it is the kids who are raising their hands, begging to be picked.

Which happened. The kids all did solos.

And then I said, “Anyone else want to take a gander (is that the right way to use that word?  Gander?).”  Out of the blue this Dad, this straight up goes to the office every day and probably does know how to get rich quick kind of guy, stands up and says “I’ll do a solo.  I’ve never done it before, but I can give it a try.”

I put on some James Brown, and this dad dances like I have never seen before.

By the end, he is beaming and he says, “I didn’t know I could do that.”

His wife is astounded and delighted. 

Her mouth is hanging open. 

My mouth is hanging open.

Everyone is cheering and clapping.

And I am thinking: 

WOW.  

What just happened??

All that happened is that an unexpected someone unexpectedly started to dance and it shook the room to it’s core.   

Talk about sweet agitation.

Maybe one day I will be the one to step up and out of what I know, do something unexpected, and tell you how to get rich quick (though I think it will probably be YOU telling ME).

But for now,  how about some dancing?

Let’s go back to an old one:

Put on your favorite song,

AND DANCE.

It can be a big dance, or an itty bitty dace.  

Just listen and see what emerges.

Have a great week and I will look forward to connecting with you when I return from “The Big City.”

Warmly,

Joanna of Joanna and the Agitators. sweetly agitating/persistently upending

how to make a dance in 10 easy steps

Step # 1: Follow what excites you:

Keep a notebook at all times and write down what intrigues, tickles, repulses, surprises you when observing the world.

Step #2:

Improvise as much as you can:

Improvise in your kitchen.

At the grocery store.

Waiting in line at the bank.

Improvise while you are spinning the baby to sleep (thank you Lauraina, William, and Haya for that one).

Notice what movements emerge in these different settings.

Notice what moods and qualities and energies come from your body depending on where you are dancing.

Step # 3.

READ. WATCH. LISTEN:

Read books and newspapers and the tea leaves at the bottom of your tea cup.

Watch movies and the sunset and your child’s hand reaching out to you.

Listen to music and to the radio and to your own heartbeat.

Step #4:

Get out of the studio so you can get back in:

If you are not seeing, living, participating in the world outside of the studio, the work will be empty.

Know that it is acceptable and okay and sometimes a must to make your work in the kitchen, the bathroom, the closet, the porch, if that is what you have access to.

Step #5:

Be gently aware that the dance is already there, just waiting for you:

In some ways this is the hardest step of all. It takes a lifetime, maybe two or three, to listen closely to what your internal world is offering up to you. That you actually don’t need to “make” anything new or innovative or original or stunning. You just need to take the time to uncover, dig up, tunnel into, and excavate the dance that is waiting patiently.

To be found by you.

Step # 6:

Be accountable to someone:

Whether you are making a solo, a duet, or a group piece, show up when you say you are going to show up.

If you are making a solo, set up times to have a few people come in and look at what you are doing. If people are waiting for you to show up, you are going to show up with the material.

If it is just you, you may find that eating a bowl of ice cream and watching reruns of The Colbert Report better suits your creative endeavor (example taken from personal experience) and then the dance never gets made.

Step # 7:

Get feedback:

Be picky about who you ask to come in to give you feedback.

Getting smart, critical, and thoughtful feedback can propel you into a whole new direction. Getting the opposite can knock you into an orbit you don’t want to or have the time to inhabit.

Step # 8:

Know the difference between impressing and enthralling your audience:

See a lot of live performance and then ask yourself, were you impressed or were you enthralled?

If you were impressed, I am sorry, but this means the art does not stand on its own, and in the end it doesn’t work.

If you are enthralled, then IT WORKS and that is what you are going for in your own work:

To enthrall, intrigue, surprise, captivate, bewitch, delight your audience.

Think about your favorite books, movies, tv shows.

When you are reading or watching something truly amazing do you say to yourself : “Wow, that writer can devise a sentence like nobody’s business” or “My goodness, but those actors on Orange is the New Black are quite good at their craft.”

Are you so engrossed in the story, the imagery, the sensory output that you forget where you are?

Do you leave the experience a little bit changed, thinking about the world through a new frame??

Do you forget that someone made this thing you are experiencing and you are just experiencing it in all of its glory, wonderment, and exaltation?

If you are answering yes, then that is a piece of live performance that works.

One of the few gems I took away from Grad School was a book we read called The Invisible Actor.

There is a section in that book that goes something like this:

Imagine this:

There are two scenarios. In the first scenario a good actor is pointing to the moon. And the audience says, “Wow, that actor can really point to the moon!”

In the second scenario a great actor is pointing to the moon. And the audience says, “Wow, look at that moon.”

Step # 9:

Be prepared that most of the time you will not achieve step #8 in your work.

Keep making the work anyway:

I rarely am able to enthrall my audience.

But I keep making the work anyway.

Because when I can, on those rare occasions, enthrall and intrigue the audience, I know I have tapped into something that is bigger then me.

Something that is mystical.

Something that is magical.

These moments are as scarce as seeing a hen with teeth or seeing fur on a snake.

But the more work I make the more likely that these unlikely moment will occur.

And finally,

Step # 10:

Know that making dances is not for everyone:

This process is tedious. arduous, scary as hell, sickening, stressful, boring, grueling, breathtaking, mind blowing, and better then LSD. I have mixed feelings about god. When I make a dance I feel good about, those mixed feelings come into focus, just a little bit more.

Take of that what you will.

These 10 steps are just the beginning of something bigger and more mysterious then you ever could have imagined.

If you decide to go forward with any or all of these step, email me and let me know how it goes.

I would love love love to hear from you.

And!!!

With gratitude and appreciation I am please to announce that Joanna and the Agitators has received a generous donation from a long time student who wishes to remain anonymous. This donation will allow me to have a professional website made and to start a scholarship fund for those who are not able to afford the cost of taking a dance class. This is a brand new development that I am just starting to shape. I will keep you posted as to how the website and the scholarship evolve.

Enjoy the heat and hope you are doing well.

Warmly,

Joanna

of

Joanna and the Agitators.

did you cross your midline today?

I haven’t yet. When I go to rehearsal for dirtland and start figuring out what happens next in this strange little dance I am making I will look forward to crossing my midline The moment my right leg crosses over to the left side of my body The moment my left elbow wanders down toward my right ankle in a new fangled manner, The moment I find myself spinning and then landing with a thud on the bench, crossing the midline quickly and with lots of momentum. Crossing the midline of the body (put your finger on the tip of your nose and then draw a line straight down from there…that is the midline of the body) helps integrate the body and the brain in a most tender and lovely way.

A lot of biking, hiking, running, walking, swimming happens, especially in Boulder.

Don’t get me wrong, I love doing all of these things (I just took an amazing run this morning that turned into a lovely summer hike and am looking forward to a bike ride tomorrow). But if I only do the kind of movement that doesn’t cross the midline, I get a little stiff. A little creaky. A little lopsided.

I miss the curve, the swoop, and the spin of my dancing body. My dancing body needs to cross the midline A LOT. When I find new positions and patterns of movement in my dancing, I gleefully cross my midline over and over again without even noticing.

It’s easy to do, and I notice that as adults we don’t tend to cross the midline as much as we did when we were kids.

So let’s start crossing the midline!

It’s fun, it’s easy and I bet it’ll make you super smart.

Your dance mission for the next two weeks is to cross your midline every time you hear the chirp of a bird. I know it sounds random, but see what happens if you every time you hear a bird chirp you cross your midline (that means that when the birds wake-up at 4am you better be up and out of bed crossing your midline!!! Just kidding, just do it when you are up and out of bed. If you are feeling ambitious and want to keep crossing your midline as the birds keep chirping, go for it).

There is such beauty in this type of randomness I think, don’t you??

Let me know how the midline crossing is going for you by posting your comments, photos, video, thoughts here:

Looking forward to seeing and dancing with you soon,

With Warmth,

Joanna of Joanna and the Agitators sweetly agitating/persistently upending

you can dance if you want to

Yesterday in our improvisation class, Linda said "I never have to change who I am when I am here." Bingo.

You just need to occupy the space.

It doesn’t matter if it is improvisation or choreography.

It doesn’t matter if you are dancing on a friday night at the local bar, or at a friend’s wedding in the ballroom of a swanky hotel.

It doesn’t matter if you have been dancing professionally since you were 3 years old or if you just started dancing last year.

It doesn’t matter if the last time you danced you can’t even remember because you “don’t dance yourself, you just watch."

It doesn't matter if you have hair growing out of your chin or if you gained 10 or 20 or 100 pounds this winter.

It doesn't even matter if your clothes are on inside out.

And it certainly doesn't matter if this is going through your head: "But I don't know how to dance."

Bulldoggy...everyone knows how to dance.

It is just a matter of remembering...