Loved this comment we heard from a beautiful dancer who is such a kind-hearted soul: “That was the best circle dance I’ve ever danced in my life!”
And it was indeed such fun. James Brown, how could that not get you up on your feet clapping and joining with others? We loved it. Come join us next week!
This summer has been magnificent….and this includes the cool morning Saturdays on the dance floor. The hall always feels so fresh and gorgeous, even with sun beaming outside.
One of the most beautiful things about this dance is the tall windows filled with stunning trees. In summer, right now at the time of writing this post, the leaves flutter in the breeze and leave waves upon the dance floor while we move from mid-morning to late-morning.
What a way to start the weekend.
Can’t wait to see you on the dance dance floor.
Your dancing facilitators, Grace and Jon
Hello dancers,
Facilitator Grace here. Greetings to you wherever you are.
Although we’re sporadic, to say the least, about posting….yesterday (a July dance) was so full of joy and such incredible energy in the dance, it’s time to say a few words this week.
Coming into the great dance hall on a summer morning is such joy. The trees are absolutely lush with green leaves, filling the entire floor-to-ceiling windows with an incredible and gorgeous view. The dance hall seems shadowed (we always use natural lighting, although sometimes in the northwest winter we actually need to turn on a few lights, it’s so dark even in daylight).
The room is quiet as we enter to set up.
Bright fabrics are hung. Music equipment is plugged in, chords taped above the doors, floor swept, yoga mats and blocks put out, sarongs draped over ballet bars, chairs set up around the edge….and the music begins.
As people enter, the day grows even brighter outside. Sun beaming bright on a mid-July Saturday morning. And so many people!
Our first dances over five years ago had 7-8 dancers only. All of us in a huge dance hall. There was room for cartwheels. We somehow knew to keep going, and to question our thoughts that more people should be there with us.
Yesterday, in the summer when it may be a little less well attended because of all the camping, festivals, travel (who knows what’s true though, we don’t)….we still had 39.
Clapping, hooting, hollering, singing to the music, laughing.
That’s what this dance is like.
The set list was full of requests from dancers (five of them) which is more than usual. And what an awesome set. Including a sing-along to Grease (Summer Days, naturally).
Already can’t wait for next week. Best way to start Saturday. Ever.
–Grace
Hello beautiful dancers!
We’ve been thrilled with the fun of dance dance, as always. And we hope you’ll come join us at Richmond Highlands Rec Center this coming Saturday PLUS next Saturday. Same time, different location.
What a joy to have 11 children on the dance floor last week–with two twin 1 year old babies and two people in their 80s. It’s a dancing village!
See you soon on the dance floor. We’ll be back at Northgate, our usual fabulous location, on April 28th.
Much love,
Grace and Jon
Wow, what energy and happiness and thrill to be in a sunny, gorgeous dance studio this morning with so many fabulous dancers.
It keeps being so incredibly wonderful week after week. We love dancing with you all.
If you’re just visiting us for the first time, we hope you’ll feel welcome, comfortable, energized, and catch a whiff of the joy we feel about dancing with everyone in this unconventional and wonderful way on Saturday mornings. Open free form style, like dancing in your living room.
Hello lovely dancers in Seattle area, and beyond (we love those who come all the way from Vancouver BC, Bellingham, Camano Island, Tacoma….wow).
We’re excitedly creating our setlist once again for Saturday morning. Wheeeeee!
We love the eclectic variety that’s become what Freeform Dance Dance IS. Music from all over the world, plus old familiars that bring such joy, reminiscence, bittersweetness, happiness, and the thrill of dancing anyway, always dancing anyway.
If you feel like you can’t dance…this is a place for you. If you feel like you CAN dance…this is a place for you. We love to move in all the multiple ways life moves, in our unique ways, in our similar ways.
See you on Saturday for all the fun!
Facilitator Grace
As we move into December and the shortest day and longest night of the year where this dance is held….the awareness for how sweet, almost necessary, and what a gift the dance can be is palpable.
Last week, the sound of Leonard Cohen’s Halleluia, sung in Hebrew by Cantor Azi Schwartz of Park Avenue Synagogue, still rings in my ears. We love honoring the spirit of all nations and humanity and traditions through the music offered in FreeForm Dance Dance.
The practice of opening up to whatever movement this body would express, and the general body of the entire group in the dance together, is unique every time. In some ways, every dance is unlike any other.
We have a pattern…we begin around the same exact time on the clock on a Saturday morning, end around the same exact time, people come and go, some are familiar and some are brand new, the weather is sunny with shadows dancing through the huge windows or dark and wet, the dance hall is bright or dark, the decorative cloth we hang are always different….and yet there is only ever a dance like this one, today. It can never be repeated, it can never go in the same way.
As we approach the anniversary of our fifth year of dancing together on Saturday mornings in Seattle, we see no signs of stopping this glorious ritual, this playground of fun and joy, and authentic spontaneous moving to the songs of the world.
Can’t wait to dance with all the people and bodies who enter this wonderful experience with us. If you’ve never tried freeform dancing before….come join us! It’s a moving meditation and an adventure you may find as exquisite as we do. We welcome you.
Facilitator Grace
What a spectacular dance this very morning.
A moment on the dance floor seeing the deep, bright, November sun streaming through the tall windows…making a perfect dark shadow of my hands and arms on the floor.
10:00 am: Glorious huge dance hall space, empty. Hanging splashes of color on windows with our bright fabrics.
10:02 am: Three new people come in, even though our signs are not yet posted and the chairs are not yet set out. We tell them what to expect, and feel so delighted to have them all.
10:03: Wires plugging in, huge heavy speakers set on tables, laptop fired up, electric chords taped above doors
10:06: Table laid with bright cloth, money-receipt box put out, sign up sheets for peoples names and emails, big notebook storing all the punch cards people have purchased for their dances, all alphabetized and filed and kept with us so no one has to remember to bring their punch card.
10:07: warm up music begins to play through the speakers
10:08: someone helps line up all the black chairs in one area of our dancing room, where people can sit and rest during dance whenever they like
10:10: floor swept, mats taped over metal squares on our wooden dance floor to protect people who dance in bare feet or sock feet.
10:12 yoga mats, yoga blocks, and musical instruments set out for people to use if they’re inspired
10:15 people coming, more and more, talking and greeting and saying hello, putting their things down in piles. Hugs, welcomes, the faces of folks who are curious and wondering, the faces of folks who are familiar with this dance.
10:20 warm up music stopped, everyone is rounded up for an opening circle to welcome newcomers, say names, begin
10:22 dance set list begins. We start very slow with gentle music, followed by a little faster, a little faster, a little faster. Music includes recognizable anchoring songs we all know: Sly and Family Stone from the 1970s, early disco from the 1960s, Another One Bites the Dust from the 1980s, George Michael Freedom from the 1990s, Beyonce, I’m So Fancy Iggy, dance from the 1940s and broadway show “Swing”, a gorgeous spiritual everyone breaks into singing along “Been in the Storm So Long”, all interspersed with music from India (Bollywood), Hector LaVoe (Latin), Madagascar, Japan, Total Eclipse of the Heart cover sung by Sleeping At Last. And that’s not all. There was more. 75 minutes of a joy ride through a lifetime.
11:45: everyone sits in a circle on the floor or brings over a chair. 3-4 people can share one short poem, quote, or song. We hear a song about the November Harvest from an elder. We hear a quote from a song we just danced to. We hear a song about water–one verse only. We hear the Tao Te Ching, which opens to #7 for today. To close everyone briefly shares one thing they appreciate (we learned this from Puget Sound Community School long ago).
11:52: We stand up, gather our things, don coats and scarves and bags…and head into our day, joyfully. Maybe there’s an extra bounce in our step, an extra relaxed calm in our bodies because of the energy spent. All is as it is. Very well indeed.
We danced this morning to a most eclectic and varied set list, honoring many themes and people today: A gorgeous tune from Puerto Rico, a slower Bollywood than normal, Tom Petty (The Waiting is the Hardest Part), mambo, salsa, Joni Mitchell, and the film score today (we always include something from film or broadway or a musical, or even TV) was from UP called Carl Goes Up. This was played in memory of Carl who danced with us many times in the first few years, but who got sick and died of cancer last Saturday.
Another gorgeous song played today for the first time was from the band MaMuse, “Glorious”. What a day, what a song. What a beautiful way to bring on the dance.
We’re also delighting that many gray haired beings enter our dance space, along with children under five. A huge range and a place to truly honor your ability and nature. We respect elders and their movements.
We love dancing in the autumn and so delighted to have so many new faces and beings with us today. Dance Dance!
Much love, Facilitators Grace and Jon