Neema Choir, Spokane, Washington
julia m becker
... the improvisational movement practice continues to take me where I need to be...
It is wordless, solo, spiritual, connecting, revitalizing and renewing ...
Sometimes it is all tears flowing, wild rivers ... and other times a blissful serenity
where I feel held in the hands of God.
One Heart
Why I dance
We are all dancing
Our lives
IMPROVISING
Our way
We know nothing
Only Here, pulsing
We are intertwined in rhythm, pattern, flow
We are naked, of this earth
We are gateways
INTERFACES
Vessels for transformation
Solo entities moving in a vast energy field
Vibrating as one
We weave the world within us
from us, to us, around us
We are pure life in this movement
Nothing else
Balanced on the flame of Death
Here, we recognize our truth
Our self, our spirit
We look into the eyes of the moment
Nothing else
In this purification
We know
All there is IS LOVE
And we dance
For Life
For Survival
For connection
To ground and rise and know better
We cherish, together, as one
The mysterious unknown
Nothing else,
Only LOVE.
Julia m becker 8/20/2020
A few things I know about myself:
- Always needed to move.
- Movement works things out, through and in.
- Movement informs everything I do.
- Teaching, picking up on the unspoken
- Art – at the heart and soul of my artwork, always has been
- Writing – spontaneous movement also
IMPROVISATION gets at the SOUL – at the center – at the truth – of it all: the present moment, supreme listening, and connection to all living beings, all life.
The improvisational movement practice continues to take me where I need to be. Sometimes it is all tears, flowing, wild rivers… And other times a blissful serenity where I feel held in the hands of God… All truth is revealed. It is a fountain of spiritual renewal.
Movement is at the core of who I am – It informs all I do and is my natural way of thinking, of creating, of being. I worked manual labor for decades, for I could not sit still. As long as I was moving… I was happy. My parents signed me up for classes as a child but me with my wild hair and creative spirit of playfulness (that was encouraged in my family life) did not fit in with the ballerinas. As a teenager I had the opportunity to take Modern, Jazz and African dance classes. It was the African dance at the local community art center with live drummers that hooked me. I was HOME.
I traveled to West Africa, stayed the winter, and it changed my life. I kept dancing. I danced in Missoula, Seattle, Cincinnati… on the streets, in the parks, in the rivers, trees, mountains. I danced solo because it was all I had. I danced with others whenever possible, sometimes they appeared, danced and were gone. I kept dancing my way through active physical labor jobs, my daily painting and writing. I painted about dance, how it felt. I painted life size dancers and attached them to alley walls. And then I danced with them (Any Alley Dancings). I laid them on the ground and danced on top of them as a part of nuclear proliferation protest (The Nuclear Buddy Series). There were some amazing experiences dancing in the nature, in the inner city, in the market, in protest marches, in places I had never been, in the Wilderness with the animals (I could tell you some stories!), and everywhere with the sun, moon and birds.
At the age of 60, I am now pursuing my dance career- whatever that is. I am not afraid of aging or death. I am not afraid of losing it all because I know that I will. The dancing makes sense. The dancing needs me and I need it. We, yes US. We are all dancing through our lives. We are all improvising. None of us know anything. We are only here, right now, somehow surviving. Breathing. Hearts pulsing, pulsing, pulsing… Our hearts, our pulse, our souls, our lives – intertwined in rhythm and pattern, in color and movement. We are all we got. We can lose everything, but we still have our bodies on this earth, naked. And the earth has our bodies, for we are one OF the earth. And there are so many stories in these bodies…
Our bodies can be the gateways IN and the gateways OUT. They are the interface. They are our vessels for transformation, or transformation. They lead the way, in joy, in suffering, in the recognition that we are solo entities moving within a vast unlimited energy field. We are an integral part of that energy field.
We are ENERGY, pure energy, ALIVE in this moment. We whirl, we swerve, we reach and curl, we balance and pause, we exhale and inhale, we pivot, we fall, we rise and twist, we vibrate, we rest… We weave the world within us, around us, from us, to us, with us. We are pure life in this movement moment, nothing else. Balancing on the flame o death. Here, we recognize our truth, our self, our spirit. We look into the eyes of the moment… nothing else… From here, in this purification, we are reminded that all there is, is LOVE. And, we are so immensely blessed to be living IN THIS FIELD of LOVE, pure love.
So, yes, I dance for love, for life, for survival, for connection, to ground and rise and know better. To sing with you and all of us, vibrating, on this planet. To clasp this moment and celebrate the mysterious unknown of all this nothingness! To celebrate THIS, only this. Thank you!
Dancing is a way of survival and of connecting to the field of love. Love is energy. We are energy.
All life is movement. We pulse, vibrate, resonate, weave and flow, inhale and exhale – us living things. We ground and connect. We take to the air, waters, flames, earth, road and pathway. We know deep in our cellular atomical being.
Improvisation gets at the Soul – at the center, at the truth of it all: the present moment, supreme listening, and connection to all living beings, all life.
The improvisational movement practice continues to take me where I need to be… It is word-free, solo, spiritual, connecting, revitalizing, and renewing … Sometimes it is all tears flowing, wild rivers … and other times a blissful serenity where I feel held in the hands of God.
So, yes, I dance for love, for life, for survival, for connection, to ground and rise and know better. To sing with you and all of us, vibrating, on this planet. To clasp this moment and celebrate the mysterious unknown of all this nothingness! To celebrate THIS, only this.
julia m becker
Professional Performing Arts Institute, Spokane, Washington
The OneHeart Call Project, www.oneheartcall.com, debuts the OneHeart Call performing arts event at the Kolva Sullivan Gallery in Spokane, Washington. We are sharing the vision of bringing different creative heart expressions together, highlighting each while merging together as one creative voice.
Bring Back the Circle of Life
Written by: Isaac Nebelsieck
Danced by: Angelie Melzer, Gabriella Folsom, Sylvia Johnson, and Kelson Cubley
Music Production by: Loic Gosselin _Inward Studio, contact@loic-gosselin.com
Choreography Script: Two floras being represented, one a mountain flower, danced by Gabriella Folsom and the other a cactus in the desert, danced by Sylvia Johnson. Each with their unique qualities of movement in the wind. Mother Earth, danced by Angelie Melzer, enters to nurture and mold the young plants. Only to be disrupted by the entrance of “man” into her environment. She stands off to the side observing the impact that “man” is having on her earth. She enters again to try to reason with “man” and configure a plan to allow both entities to co-exist.
Fear
Written by: Ryan Yancey and Blake Yacker
Danced by: Ariana Hatch and Sophia Bartlett
Audio from: the youtube video track: “The Second Hand Ticks”, Composer: Stuart Roslyn, Matt Foundling, Album: La Belle Époque (2018) and used with their permission
Choreography Script: The girl in white and black tights is FEAR itself, danced by Sophia Bartlett. The girl in all white thights is a young girl, fearless as she enters the world, danced by Ariana Hatch. FEAR studies her to learn her innermost fears and then instills them deeper into her as the piece goes on. Until the end when the young girl is sucked into FEAR’s world moving in sync with her.
Mother Earth
Written by: Donell Barlow
Danced by: Angelie Melzer
Music Production by: Loic Gosselin _Inward Studio, contact@loic-gosselin.com