By body grooves we know things.
A practiced heart anticipates heaven and hell
makes ritual out of sensitivities
-a joke, a hope, a connection,
a conjured chorus of love.
The Common Chorusvideo
Bobby McFerrin demonstrates our connection to the pentatonic scale using audience participation, at the 2009 World Science Festival on June 12, 2009, “Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus” http://vimeo.com/5732745
Anticipating grace? practice
Put hand on heart. Still beating? Grace.
Take a deep breath. Let it out with a sigh. Still breathing? Grace.
Shake out what you’re sitting on. Let go a little? Grace.
When we dance hand-to-hand we often practice opening the space between us. We can feel that connection even when we aren’t right together. Raise a hand in blessing. Turn in a full circle (or not) and know that others are sending blessings to you too.
Happy Halloween! Ready to trick or treat? America is.
Evil vs Goodquote
“Twins of Evil”video
Evil TwinBody Wisdom
Evil twin tricks (Bwa ha haaaaaa…) practice
Treatmovement
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Take a deep breath and let it out with a sigh!
Evil vs Goodquote
“Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.”- Simone Weil
“Twins of Evil”video
Playing with “evil” is a human tradition. It is how we rise above it and poke fun at it.
Evil TwinBody Wisdom
Brain Herring (of Raleigh, NC), sharing about their Evil Twin Performance Jam tradition “The Evil Twins Strike Back,” says people are encouraged to “Tell your scariest story, sing your most haunting song, dance like the zombies are after you in InterPlay’s version of open-mike night, joining with others to create a special Halloween performance!” He says, “The first time we did the Evil Twins performance jam, at the last minute I threw in two words at the end of the description,”Costumes welcome.” I didn’t really expect many people to come dressed up. I was astonished at the effort and creativity that people put into their costumes. People had a blast and a tradition was born. Being given permission to do stuff (move, sing off key, talk loudly) felt vital. In the naming circle, the fake identities start to be revealed. No one uses their real name! Stories and songs and dances come from other places. And yet there is a sense that a greater truth is being revealed than is otherwise allowed. One man is a brain-damaged mental patient. Another is the winner of a wet t-shirt contest. Where else, even in InterPlay, would this crew be so brazen?
Evil twin tricks (Bwa ha haaaaaa…) practice
•Fling your focuser (and your serious self) up in the air for 30 seconds.
•Thrust your pelvis forward and walk around. Can you keep a straight face?
•Hold your face in a strange position and keep it there. Let your moves flow from your facial expression.
•Dance in a completely jerky, quirky way to “Amazing Grace.” From Dance: A Sacred Art: The Joy of Movement as Spiritual Practice p49 “Trickster Dances”
Cassandra Sagan's dog Zusha, the abominable snow dog
Friday Morning Virtual InterPlay: Just for Fun
Just for Fun story
Mozart on roller bladesvideo
DW3Practice
Dancing the World into Form Poem
Anti-Depression Videovideo
Raise a hand in blessing movement
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Take a deep breath, let it out with a sigh.
Just for Fun story
by Cassandra Sagan of Portland, OR
When I was a kid in Brooklyn I was a contestant on a TV show called “Just for Fun.” I had a terrible time. Before the live broadcast began, the host, Sonny Fox, went around the audience asking for jokes. My dad had written me a perfect one: I would ask Sonny Fox, “What do you get when you turn funny socks inside out?” Sonny Fox! But he was sweaty and impatient in person. He picked seven other kids and never even called on me. My team lost a carload of prizes—Suzy Homemaker ovens, talking dolls, games with fancy plastic moving parts— because I couldn’t sweep a ball fast enough across the slippery floor. I felt chubby and ashamed. The losing players got one of those metal looms where you make pot holders out of mop fibers.
Tom Robbins says “It’s never too late to have a good childhood.” Studies show that children learn by playing. And as we become more and more a culture of lifelong learners, we require Lifelong Playing. So let’s play, “Just for Fun.”
Mozart on roller bladesvideo
DW3Practice
Dance Write Dance Write Dance Write
I love to sit on my balance ball and write. The poem, the song, the midrash, the e-mail is in my body, my feet on the ground, my breath blowing my lips to raspberries. I’m a sloppy writer, bouncing a little, leaning back and working those abs, circling my hips and breathing into my kidneys, or my liver, whatever it is back there that needs breathing into. I drape my body over the kitchen counter, the Muse at my back, kneel on the rug with my tush in the air, curl like a cat on the sofa. I take a legal pad and walk all over the house, the deck, the yard.
Do a DW3—Begin in stillness.
Take a deep breath and let it out with a sound.
You can do a one hand dance, a full body dance, a chair dance, balance ball dance, lie on the floor for a couple of minutes and roll dance. It might be a different dance each round.
And then write. Let the words come out of your dance, your body.
You can write longhand or type. Try thrusty writing, flowy writing. It can be utter nonsense phrases hooked together with commas and conjunctions. Write in a shape. Imagine you can breathe the words out. Start out with something you always say. Write in Fake German, capitalizing Significant words. If you happen to write something Pulitzer that’s lovely, but it’s not the goal. Just write for the sheer fun of it. A few minutes, a few lines, a few words. And then dance again, write again. Do that three times.
Dancing the World into Form Poem by Cassandra Sagan, the results of a DW3
Words, I’ve missed
the way you slipped through my hands
onto the page, slithering
a while before you disappeared.
It was you I was looking for:
all those years all those men,
writhing from one excruciating love poem to another.
Poor Younger Self had all the right components
dumped into her like a junk drawer.
But, Girlfriend, I’ve missed
the way we used to play
freeze tag, you were beautiful
the way shadows are beautiful
flickering on the edges of light.
Remember how we danced with the Clown Goddess?
All it took was a smile,
a Tai Chi flick of the wrist.
We were twelve-years-old
torn between the childhood we’d lost
and the womanhood we could only long for.
Living Words, I want to press
myself against you until my DNA whirls
in synchrony with your Hebrew, Sanskrit, cuneiform,
I want to kiss you
like a prayer book, a siddur,
like tzitzit, the fringe of my prayer shawl
wrapped around us as we dance this world into form.
Anti-Depression Videovideo
Raise a Hand in Blessingmovement
When we dance hand-to-hand we often practice opening the space between us. We can feel that connection even when we aren’t right together. Raise a hand in blessing. Turn in a full circle (or not) and know that others are sending blessings to you too.
Note: This week’s posting is created by Cassandra Sagan. Cassandra is a new Portland, OR InterPlay leader and organizer, a writer, a poet in the schools, a Ukelele playing songstress, and a leader in her synagogue. She will assist Cynthia Winton-Henry at the Applied Improvisation Network conference in Oregon this November.
Friday Morning Virtual InterPlay: Receive your life!
Whypoem
Receive Thyself! practice
The Climb song/video
A Blessing: Where I Live Nowpoem
Raise a hand in blessing movement
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In InterPlay we like to “have” our self and our world. Tend to give yourself away? “Take back” your focus and receive. Take a deep breath and let it out with a sigh…
Whypoem
by Nanao Sakaki inBreak the Mirrorsubmitted by John Diller at Secrets of Leading in Seattle
Why climb a mountain.
Look! a mountain there.
I don’t climb mountain.
Mountain climbs me.
Mountain is myself.
I climb on myself.
There is no mountain
nor myself.
Something
moves up and down
in the air.
Receive Thyself! practice
Practice hanging out, easy focus, rolling around.
TraceyJoy in Oakland got this inspiration.
“I go into the bathroom, lock the door, leave the light off and stand in the dark until I can see my hands. When I walk back out of the bathroom, I’ve noticed my body has relaxed including my eyeballs. My vision is much wider taking in more peripheral visual data than before I went into the bathroom.”
The Climb song/video
Listen to Miley Cyrus’ pop version encouraging the same idea in “The Climb”
A Blessing: Where I Live Nowpoem by Rita Otis, spiritual director, InterPlayer, from Nebraska at the Secrets of InterPlay in Des Moines, IA
Perhaps up north it would be said latitude and longitude.
Said with a “tude” of an attitude.
But in my postmenopausal glacial slide,
Carving out lakes with my breasts
To be filled with the milk of human kindness,
Rounding out around the earth
To summersault into the saline bath of ocean;
I land in lanquitude and loungetude.
Raise a hand in blessing movement
When we dance hand-to-hand we often practice opening the space between us. We can feel that connection even when we aren’t right together. Ahhhhh….Raise a hand in blessing. Receive rather than send it today.
Listen to Come and Play by James Shattauer while you dance.
“The best way to increase happiness, is to lower your expectations.” —Phil Porter
Consider perfection video
Outward perfection has its cost. Professional dancers nurse injuries, sustain grueling schedules, and fight to rise to the top. Perfect? Yet how they inspire us!
If I Didn’t have to do it Perfectly poem by Billie Mazzei (Seattle InterPlayer)
If I didn’t have to do it perfectly,
I would be a ballet dancer.
When I think about it,
it makes me laugh.
I see the pink elephants
in their little tutus,
dancing in Disney’s Fantasia.
When I stop laughing
I go inside
where the music begins
and I start to dance.
Slowly,
tentatively at first,
then more boldly
with grace and confidence.
I whirl and twirl on pointe.
I leap and glide.
The music swells to a crescendo.
I am overcome by the glory of it
and the way my body responds.
There is no audience
and no need for one.
Every fiber of my being applauds
Struggle with imperfections? practice
Look for the good, affirm it
In your body…
In your loved ones…
In your work and play…
Why not make a song out of it? “I am grateful for…..”
Enjoy the present, That’s where a bigger perfection plays.
Raise a hand in blessing movement
When we dance hand-to-hand we often practice opening the space between us. We can feel that connection even when we aren’t right together. Raise a hand in blessing. Turn in a full circle (or not) and know that others are sending blessings to you too.
Listen to Simon Gray’s wonderful song Freedom to Love about improvising while you dance.
Babies occupy a spongy hang, alive zone. Not much obstructs their immediate connection. Maria Montesori said, “Watching a child makes it obvious that the development of his or her mind comes about through movements….Mind and movement are parts of the same entity.” Turns out we don’t lose that part of ourselves.
Cuddle. Nap. Eat. Rock out. Learn. Direct, immediate, simple, kinesthetic connection with the world puts us in the moment, elevates our mood, and keeps us humble and real. (Babies have limits!) Move beyond watching and reflecting…
Bummed? Bounce, baby.
Clogged up? Get out your keys and rattle.
Cranky? Whine, roll on the floor, nap.
Bored? Follow something or someone fun.
Tense? Give yourself a good squeeze.
Zapped? Get contact and quiet.
Ornery? Channel your exuberant baby and go for something.
Raise a hand in blessing movement
When we dance hand-to-hand we often practice opening the space between us. We can feel that connection even when we aren’t right together. Raise a hand in blessing. Turn in a full circle (or not) and know that others are sending blessings to you too.
Listen to Come and Play by James Shattauer while you dance.
Take a deep Breath and Let it out with a Sigh.
Learn more about Minnesota InterPlayer James Schattauer at his website: Bigheartcreations.com
Note: Frank Forencich author of The Exuberant Animal Playbook: Secret Moves and Games of the Play Masters and InterPlay are on the same team! Check out http://www.Exuberantanimal.com website, community, and November conference.
Devotion is the act of giving your attention, interest or affection to
someone or something. Devoting time to something you love brings
ease, joy and peace. When we use something we love as a vehicle
for our devotion we may just discover things about ourselves, that
which we love and the wider world that are new and compelling to us.
Dancing, the act of connecting with life by connecting to our own
indigenous movement, can be a wonderful vehicle for our devotion.
A simple dance with your hand, a bigger dance with your whole body…
easy ways to carry our attention to that which we love.
Dancing with Devotion video
Here is a dance of devotion with a surprising discovery!
Dance when you are broken open poem
The sufi poet Rumi says it so completely:
Dance when you are broken open
Dance if you’ve torn the bandage off
Dance in the middle of the fighting
Dance in your blood
Dance when you are perfectly free
Struck, the dancer hears a tambourine inside her,
like a wave that crests into foam at the very top,
Begins.
Maybe you don’t hear that tambourine,
or the tree leaves clapping time.
Close the ears on your head,
that listen mostly to lies and cynical jokes.
There are other things to see, and hear.
Music. Dance.
A brilliant city inside your soul! –Rumi
Dance of Devotionpractice
Listen to “Voice of the Universe” by Shazam (InterPlayer and member of WING IT!) or choose a piece of music that you especially love to move to. Bring your attention to something that has captured your devotion. Will you dance with your hand? Will you use your entire body?
With music playing, and devotion in your heart, let the dance emerge.
In the privacy of your own abode there is no one to impress. This is
your time for your dance of devotion to bring you ease, joy, peace, and
perhaps something new and thrilling!
When we dance hand-to-hand we often practice opening the space between us. We can feel that connection even when we aren’t right together. Raise a hand in blessing. Turn in a full circle (or not) and know that others are sending blessings to you too. Take a deep Breath and Let it out with a Sigh……
Fertile Eyes video
Fruit Stand at the Corner poem
Belly Button Festival Big Body Story
Belly Button Speak practice Raise Your Hand in Blessing movement
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Take a deep breath from your belly! Let it out with a sigh…
Fertile Eyesvideo
Ela Lamlin of Lelavision won GRAND PRIZE in the Chlorofilms Plant Biology video contest. Collaborating with reproductive biologist specializing in pollen research, Dr Anna Edlund, “Fertile Eyes” is an educational short to help teach about the process of pollination in flowering plants.
Fruit Stand at the Corner Poem
by Laurie Rudel, Seattle InterPlayer and Body Wisdom Board member
Sun-Kist navels the sign said
they meant oranges of course
but I saw instead
that ancient connection
of mother and child
that puckered place of our
beginning before first breath
infused with light and shining
Japan’s dancing Belly Button FestivalBig Body Story
By Hiroyuki Muramoto SHIBUKAWA, Japan (Reuters Life!)
Children and adults, many of them sporting painted stomachs, took part at the annual Belly Button Festival in Shibukawa, north of Tokyo, where dancing in the streets is compulsory. “The belly button is traditionally believed to be located in the middle of the body and the most important part. Our town, Shibukawa, is also called the belly button of Japan, and that is how this festival began,” said festival organizer Kazuo Yamada.
The festival is based on a traditional Japanese form of entertainment where revelers paint a face on their torsos and stomachs and pretend it is a head. A kimono is then wrapped around the waist and the person’s real head is hidden by a large cloth hat. The belly button is traditionally painted into a mouth.- It was belly-up for thousands of people who indulged in a weekend of navel gazing at a festival dedicated to the belly button in central Japan.
“It’s about everyone doing something together. But it’s essentially pretty silly so it’s just about having fun and going for the ride,” said Hironori Kanou, a 26-year-old city hall employee who was walking around with a painted belly.
The only thing festival-goers take seriously is dancing: participants sashayed through the streets of Shibukawa for over two hours in the sweltering heat.
Sitting in your chair or moving around, do a minute of fake hula or belly dance. Our belly button is a center of swinging movement, of connection, and a center of gravity. A “still point of the turning world” to quote T.S.Eliot. Move your navel to find your sacred center then go have a “naked navel,” a cool, nonalcoholic version of the fuzzy navel. This recipe serves one.
Ingredients:
1 cup cracked ice
1 tsp. grenadine
3 oz. orange juice
ripe medium peach
Steps:
1. Skin and slice the peach, discarding the pit.
2. Place orange juice, peach, grenadine and ice in a blender.
3. Cover and blend on High until smooth.
4. Pour into a glass.
Raise A Hand in Blessing
When we dance hand to hand we often practice opening the space between us. We can often feel that connection even when we aren’t right together. Raise a hand in blessing. Turn in a full circle (or not) and know that others are sending blessings to you too.
Friday Morning Virtual InterPlay: Foot Work/Sole-Oh’s
Rabbi Schlomo Carlebach quote
Gene Kelly Dancing on Skates video
Foot tappin’ with Snowball the Cockatoo practice
Body Wisdom for the Sole
Raise a Hand in Blessing Song by Mary Grigolia
Take a deep breath, let it out with a sigh. Rabbi Schlomo Carlebachquote
“If I were the Chief Rabbi of Israel, I would pass a law making it compulsory for everyone to go out on the streets and dance at least twice a week. Yeah, it’s wonderful when a Jew has a great head and a remarkable brain, but gevalt! Where are the feet?”
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, What’s Next, p. 17. Thanks to Sara Nesson, Interfaith Minister.
Gene Kelly Dancing on Skatesvideo
Find your feet, there you are.
Foot Tappin’ Practice
At your desk? Put on earphones and tap your feet. A little tappin’ is all it takes to invoke easy focus and amusement. Take a break. Join the dancing cockatoo and gecko. If they can tap, so can you.
Body Wisdom
. Remember: to change your life, change your practice.
. Pay attention to your sole-power.
. Where your feet are, there you are.
. Don’t be misled by those fancy moves in your head.
. Sole is where it’s at.
Raise A Hand in Blessing
When we dance hand to hand we often practice opening the space between us. We can often feel that connection even when we aren’t right together. Raise a hand in blessing. Turn in a full circle (or not) and know that others are sending blessings to you too.
Love opens up our bodies
Love opens up our spirits
Love opens up our hearts
We’re seeds of love.
Deep Breath, Let it out with a Sigh…
Minnesota InterPlayer Linda Clare Breitag knows how to have a toe-tappin’ good time. Fiddle and cloggin music to get you moving! Get her CDFeet to the Fire on the InterPlay website. She also has a brand new CD What We Do: Good time songs for peace and change which can be ordered by calling the InterPlay office (510/465-2797) or thru iTunes.
Welcome the Angelpractice
• Take a deep breath.
• Open your arms like wings.
• Give yourself a hug.
• Squirm out the kinks of the day.
• Shake out the day for as long as it takes.
• Take a deep breath and let it out with a sigh.
“Take it Easy”video
Like one in every 1200 children, Bill Shannon has a bilateral hip deformity — his hips aren’t round, and putting pressure on them creates swelling. Since the age of five, he’s been using crutches, and by now, he considers them be an extension of his body. Instead of feeling handicapped, Shannon has turned walking on crutches into an art form! In this video, watch Bill take it to the street, dance, skate and more — all to challenge images of disability through performance art. On the streets, they call him Crutch.
Raise A Hand in Blessing
When we dance hand to hand we often practice opening the space between us. We can often feel that connection even when we aren’t right together. Raise a hand in blessing. Turn in a full circle (or not) and know that others are sending blessings to you too.
Posted by fridaymorninginterplay 
Posted by fridaymorninginterplay 
Posted by fridaymorninginterplay 
