Dance with Me

For months over the course of the winter of 2021, I became fascinated with fire. I wasn’t going to set anything ablaze, it was the natural element that intrigued me. Maybe because it was cold outside, maybe because I missed being soaked by the sun. It was also beyond physical - winter is when my heart tends to feel a spark - I am more creative and inspired during the dark, long days, and, day or night, I always had a candle lit.

What started as candle gazing as a meditative practice before bedtime, soon became something greater. I placed my candle (most always, beeswax, with that deliciously subtle aroma and purifying ions) in the center of my living room, clearing the space around it. Missing those rare but precious summer moments around a campfire, I created my own little version. And I started to dance around it.

Freeflowing, unstructured movements (at first, not unlike this) - whatever came out of me - with music that fit my mood. A song would finish, I would hit replay. Then, again. “One more time!” I’d say to myself, not wanting to go to bed. The movements became more rhythmic, more sensual, more devotional. I thought of the people I loved, and what I wished for humanity, and for myself.

This surge of joy carried through during the day, and this practice changed my life forever.

I realized that I should be dancing all the time.