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