Kefi - Joy of life at the heart of the impulse to dance

Reflections arising from reading that the Greeks have the word 'kefi', for the joy of life at the heart of the impulse to dance.

This phrase stands out as a reminder of a truth the world so readily forgets.

The heart tends to be denied and suppressed by the impulse to define, identify and defend.

In earlier years, our dancing was more open, Though I don't travel that much, I often find what I tend to call dancing with the drawbridge up.

As if what once opened a way of naturally moving in a shared joy became but another environment in which to self differentiate (in self protective conditionality).

Intellectually, I am not surprised at this for it is 'the way of the world' to absorb and neutralize the heart's innocence of being - for it often seems to undermine or break our rules. But in the place of joy's expression I feel a kind of shock in meeting a joylessness within a natural occasion of joy - no matter how normal it might be in the 'culture'.

The (dance) teacher is also a point of invitation and demonstration of culture. Culture is broadly speaking, the values that we embody and share in all that we do, but in specific activities such as our dancing, we have an opportunity to invite and embrace in personal and cultural renewal. A truly Recreational activity!

Drifting, could be used as a term to indicate when old habits are running in place of - and perhaps unconsciously denying -  a conscious appreciation. When everyone drifts together, they tend to support the status quo - and the fresh energies that would rise as healing and renewal do not find a way through. The old rigidifies form and protects against change by exercising control. The new will always break through - gracefully or otherwise.

Nothing new in all this - but to read something so very true, prompted a little reflection.

Joy is innate rather than acquired - though of course we are all conditioned to relax and enjoin in some situations and not others. Joy is not only effusive or expansive - but is the felt quality of Soul (for lack of a better word) that shines quietly in a heartfelt connection and as a tangible presence in a shared trust.

There is a lot of folderol around spirituality - but freedom to feel and be moved, is joy's embodiment. Any attempt to become a someone or something in our own right always works against such a joy, no matter how it is presented.

When I first came to circle dance (without coordination!) I also came to a wholly joy based learning - in which the basis and context of learning was guiltless within a movement of recognition (of value) and an act of self-inclusion. I did not want to exclude myself on the basis of 'cant do it' or 'I don't belong here'. I wanted IN - and so listened within for the way of hanging in despite the triggers to fold, to back off - and to judge.

Such inclusiveness was also amidst an aspirational movement; in which we were willing to open and grow.

It is perhaps ironic that the opening of such joy invokes a self-protective grasp which inevitably patterns into factional historical perspectives over time. But just as we all sometimes feel the dance moving us that 'knows itself in its flow' - so is there in the greater dance of our lives - of the culture we create together and the perspective in which we live.

The key in simple terms might well be joy. To risk into our joy may make us more sensitive to joylessness in our life - but wherever joy is denied there is an opportunity for noticing what is really going on beneath the story our mind's set. Only the tension of which we are aware can be released.

I can can recall coming through aspirational inhibition in a willingness to reach up. Relaxing through a belief-identity that said 'boys don't move with beauty and grace'. These are easy to describe and share - but the opportunity for uncovering the so called inner dancer (you) as an embodiment of a shared innocence of being is ongoing. This speaks to me of a way of life - not preset with identities, so much as an ever releasing and renewing in a greater participation of discernment and trust.

Anyone who has danced with me knows I am not careless of the step and style of the dance - but that these are communicated within a relationship or living context that invites and extends a willingness to joy.

To be undefended to our own joy is to be without inhibition or embarrassment for THAT we love (are moved). This witness is denied our world if we hide our light under a bushel, for it is not our light ALONE - and that is what we have forgotten when we contract into a defensive posture of isolated ones seeking to connect as isolated ones through ritual acts that re-enact forms of what once Moved alive.

Please take all this as a sketch. It isn't a tirade against anyone or anything, but a prompting of joy to share its own nature.


Thank you for your attention!

In Peace

Brian

If this is at all interesting, you may appreciate reading

"Reflections on the Spirit of Dance":

http://preview.tinyurl.com/cfhgden