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Dance of Elemental Alchemy

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Guardians - skirt dance in the fall leaves
04:22

Guardians - skirt dance in the fall leaves

One of the improvisational dances from my series I filmed in last year's fall leaves to the music of Lindsey Stirling. She is my Muse for so many more reasons than the way her music marionettes dances out of me. She has been one of my brightest beacons of inspiration amidst dark times since I discovered her in 2012. She's been so important to my healing journey and my dance evolution that I wrote a whole ginormous blog series about her. It starts here: https://www.hartebeast.com/post/the-muse-in-the-moon-my-journey-with-lindsey-stirling This was the last dance in the series that I filmed, but now that it's fall again, it was the first one to shout, "Edit me, NOW!" Probably because of the theme. ✨🥰✨ I shot these dances amidst hip re-injury at the low point of a 3 year dental surgery nightmare that ultimately led to multiple silver linings, including my ability to choreograph--lost to TBI & seizures a decade ago. Well, in curing that infected tooth implant, some strange things happened to my brain over the winter. Within a month, I got back abilities I've been trying to reclaim since 2013. And my trip down Re-injury Road? That turned out to have my current spine rehab overdrive at the end of it so...I'll take it. When the Universe Gives Me "NO" - I Hunt For the "YES": https://www.hartebeast.com/post/when-the-universe-gives-me-no-i-hunt-for-yes This dance is for everybody who's seen me through my trips to the Underworld and back and down and back again. I can't do what I do without every one of you. THANK YOU. Purrrrrrrrrrr... Music: Morning in the Calla by Music for Makers Guardian by Lindsey Stirling You can follow more of my adventures here: https://www.hartebeast.com Current updates and work-in-progress goodies are on my Ko-Fi Page: https://ko-fi.com/hartebeast
Blossom - A Dance Ode to Persephone
06:08

Blossom - A Dance Ode to Persephone

This dance was over 2 years in the making. I had plotted it over the winter of 2019, intending to film the Springtime Persephone once the azaleas bloomed. Alas. Just as I was about to shoot, I re-tore my meniscus and couldn't walk for a week. So I had to wait. I filmed the Blossomtime footage last spring, and then had to lie in wait again. When this winter provided a gorgeous, hefty snowfall, I jumped! And thus, do we have it. My dance tale of blooming, not only after harsh winters, but of learning to find the glimmers in the gray, and of dancing in the asphodels while trapped in the Underworld. I've also written about it over on the blog: https://www.hartebeast.com/post/joy-as-a-weed-it-s-everywhere I don't really dance onstage anymore (covid closures or not). You can find all the Dain Bramagey reasons for that on the blog as well. So if you enjoy these dance performances, the instruction I post here, and my writing, and want to be an artistic patron, here is my Ko-Fi account: https://ko-fi.com/hartebeast Music: Blossom by Kerli Lyrics: A frozen heart beat under the snow I've been waiting, ready to grow Shivering and weathering storms Dreaming of some other place warm While my roots dig deeper inside And my leaves stay bundled up tight I felt my face get bigger than life Not only did I survive... I learned to blossom Finding sunlight in the grey Knowing I will be okay I learned to blossom Finding sunlight in the grey Flowing lifeline with no rain I blossom Winter's voice is ghostly in the wind Whispering "this could be the end" Why are they forgetting me not? Can't they see I'm hurting enough? While my roots dig deeper inside And my leaves stay bundled up tight I felt my face get bigger than life Not only did I survive... I learned to blossom Finding sunlight in the grey Knowing I will be okay I learned to blossom Finding sunlight in the grey Flowing lifeline with no rain I blossom And I would And I would And I Could You can follow more of my adventures here: https://www.hartebeast.com/blog https://www.hartebeast.com https://www.facebook.com/BellaNtheBeastie/
BellaDancer: Universe Wrapped in Skin
07:45

BellaDancer: Universe Wrapped in Skin

The first piece I did in Memphis 2019. My maiden voyage in publicly taking the shackles off, and dancing any darn way I feel like it. It's not belly dance. It's the BellaDancer doing her thang. Music: Omiya by Michael Danna from Kama Sutra: Tale of Love Morning Dew Siren by Shiva In Exile Woman (Oh Mama) by Joy Williams A NOTE ABOUT THE MUSIC When I wrote to Shiva In Exile to ask for a translation of the lyrics to this amazing song, I was informed that it was composed in a fantastical language, and was encouraged to translate it any way I was inspired. So I did. That meant I had to analyze the song, phonetically interpret the lyrics, find all the common elements in the sounds and create a standardized "vocabulary". Finally, I was able to weave words together from that vocabulary, the way they were voiced, the mood of the music, and the tale I wanted to tell. Here is what it said to me: ODE TO THE ELEMENTS Glory unto Your wonders You calm my warring heart Your brilliance is the heart of the sun Let me be the moon Aglow with this reflected light I AM the moon My breath is the sea's rhythm A heart of gold frees me Rivers, grasses, raindrops Rippling in time I am danced by the currents of this Earth A heart of gold frees us all Ah, hearken, hearken...hearken, Mother Please, (Earth) Mother...hearken please, please Sorrow, Mother Yes Mother, yes Mother, yes! Hearts hearken Mother, yes, move me now Oh, hearken now, Mother Now, Mother Oh, now Oh, now! Glory unto Your wonders You calm my warring heart Your brilliance is the heart of the sun Let me be the moon *deep bow* And of course, Joy Williams' amazing, inspiring words, which gave the piece its title: WOMAN (OH MAMA) Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh... Woman make Woman take Woman see Woman breathe Woman carry the burden of knowledge Woman always the one to be blamed Woman shoulder the men of the nation Woman free you from sorrow and shame (Chorus) (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) Come let me show where life begins (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama) (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) I am the universe wrapped in skin (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) Woman dream Woman hate Woman cry Woman break Woman hold you in the palm of her hand Woman changing the mask on her face Woman stand with her feet in the fire Woman only one thrown in the flames CHORUS (Woman!) I am the moon in the midnight sky (Woman!) I am the secret you try to hide Come let me show you, Oh I'm the moon, I'm the moon, Yeah Ohhh…oh you I am the moon, I am the moon, I am the moon Woman monster Woman child Woman hero Woman wild Woman whisper Woman scream Woman listen Woman free Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh Woman Mary Jezebel Woman heaven Woman hell Woman teacher Woman kind Woman nature Women rise! Oh, mama! (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh mama (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama) I am the universe Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh mama (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) Woman! (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) Woman! (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) Oh mama, ma, mama Woman!
Ice Age - A Snowy Dance Tale to "Winter" by Tori Amos
07:16

Ice Age - A Snowy Dance Tale to "Winter" by Tori Amos

This project has been germinating in the underground realms of my mind since 1997 when I first discovered Tori Amos' Little Earthquakes album. I've been gathering the footage for it since 2017. Then last spring, just as the flowers exploded into bloom, we got a freak snowstorm that destroyed them all in a landscape of wondrous, frozen beauty. That storm gave me the final pieces I needed to finally finish this project. This piece is about all the things I thought I could never tell my dad, and about how confiding in him healed so many things--not only in our relationship, but also in me. It's also about the way that trauma gets frozen inside the body, and about a bunch of things that I do to get everything moving again: Play... connection... nature... dance... martial arts... storytelling... making art... and of course, love and trust. Trusting my loved ones and trusting myself. Most of all, it's about learning how to love myself as I am. Music: Winter by Tori Amos All is Wonder by Cast of Characters I write a lot about the tales underlying this dance in my memoirs on my blog. You can find them under the categories of: --Healing --Sex, Love & Violence --Trauma & Self-Defense https://www.hartebeast.com/blog https://www.hartebeast.com This is really the only place I dance anymore, between the pandemic and Dain Bramage. Like what I do? Consider becoming a patron, or keep up to date on all my videos, writing and projects here: https://ko-fi.com/hartebeast

Absorb what is useful

Discard what is not

Add what is uniquely your own. 

 

~Bruce Lee

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