Does poetry help you dance?

topic posted Fri, August 3, 2007 - 8:03 PM by  Judith
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The Last Dance by May Riley Smith

Midnight is past, and it is time to go:
Yet still I linger in the banquet hall
And with the dancers clap my hands and call
For one waltz more, although my step lags slow,
And my dark coachman waits for me I know
Upon the lowest stair.

This is part of a poem from Dance in Poetry by Alkis Raftis. I think this is a poignant poem suggesting that the dancer is frail and that she thinks her dancing days will be over before she would like them to be.

Are there any poems that help you to dance that you can post here?

posted by:
Judith
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  • Re: Does poetry help you dance?

    Sat, August 4, 2007 - 1:01 AM
    Indeed! This one from Hafiz:

    'Don't surrender your loneliness
    so quickly~
    Let it cut more deeply~

    Let it ferment and season you
    as few human
    or even divine ingredients can.

    Something missing in my heart tonight~
    has made my eyes so soft... My voice~
    So tender,

    My need of God
    Absolutely
    Clear'
    • Re: Does poetry help you dance?

      Sat, August 4, 2007 - 3:21 AM
      That is an interesting poem.


      • Unsu...
         

        Re: Does poetry help you dance?

        Sun, August 12, 2007 - 6:44 PM
        Yes! I recently found inspiration in a section of the Dry Salvages from TS Eliotts 4 quartets :

        "For most of us, there is only the unattended
        Moment, the moment in and out of time,
        The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight,
        The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning
        Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply
        That it is not heard at all, but you are the music
        While the music lasts. These are only hints and guesses,
        Hints followed by guesses; and the rest
        Is prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action.
        The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation.
        Here the impossible union
        Of spheres of existence is actual,
        Here the past and future
        Are conquered, and reconciled,
        Where action were otherwise movement
        Of that which is only moved
        And has in it no source of movement -
        Driven by daemonic, chthonic
        Powers. And right action is freedom
        From past and future also.
        For most of us, this is the aim
        Never here to be realised;
        Who are only undefeated
        Because we have gone on trying;
        We, content at the last
        If our temporal reversion nourish
        (Not too far from the yew-tree)
        The life of significant soil."

        I read the first section

        "For most of us, there is only the unattended
        Moment, the moment in and out of time,
        The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight,
        The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning
        Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply
        That it is not heard at all, but you are the music
        While the music lasts."

        On the bus and BANG! a dance appeared - it took some refining to make it presentable but it's incredible how that happens isn't it - inspiration can sometimes trickle into your heart or hit you like a bolt of lightning! The bolt of lightning is far more rare for me.
        • Unsu...
           

          Re: Does poetry help you dance?

          Sun, August 12, 2007 - 7:15 PM
          Hello again, just following up on the last post - below is a to 'While the Music Lasts' this is the dance that appeared on the bus, in its fairly rearly stages of development (last November) the music is gorgeous and was written especially for the piece, by the very talented Michael Zolker, actually we've taken the piece even further now, hopefully I'll have a clip of that soon.

          It'd be nice to see some other dances that came out of poetry if anyone has any....

          uk.youtube.com/watch

          best wishes,
          Dawn

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