Movin' Easy Dancewear

Poems by Tim Hurst

Never Too Far, Produced and choreographed by Deborah Tate

Trumpet Star Spangled Banner begins and I am immediately puzzled.  The feeling in the room is different from other performances.  There is a quality from the sound of the trumpet that hints that something really good is about to happen.

What is the difference?  A singer’s pose, a dancer’s presence, a body of wholeness, a voice of stillness, enticing life, connecting with God at the speed of light.

What is the difference?  There is a stillness in these bodies, man and woman; a resting that passes desperation on their way to a higher power.  There is a quietness of reaching within.  There is a softness, a firmness, a powerful spark always at work.  There is a connection to brightness pulsing within and showing itself fully that goes beyond excellence, beyond sexiness, and beyond the dancing and singing within my own heart.

So the story begins and the son is told a home always awaits him.  Gone away, he sings his songs of stench and emptiness.  His angels come sliding on his dark cloud.  With fishing gear and dancing shoes, they call him from his knees and ask for his “yes.”

The son sings with his whole being.  Only a man of such huge wholeness could bring the quest for forgiveness through his stomach, his entrails boiling with his “yes.”  His singular angel of triumph is called to thaw his frozen sun, to raise his broken chest, to make sure all the anguish is spun and flung into the hands of God.  His angel finishes with a walk that washes all his pathways back home.

Here is the real steadiness I see in these bodies, these men, these women.  They know nothing will ever separate them from their loving Father.  They will never be too far to come back.  The full round sound of the trumpet calls in gratitude for the setting sun.

After a pause, dancers bring us back with Glorious song.

Dancers’ joyful noise again captivates wholeness, stillness centers itself to spin, ribbons awake the space, fans surprise the heartbeat, and unison surges to spell the purpose of fullness.

Singers call, “can you buy me a resolution…old me, new me…I love to ask for that funny little game we play…amazing grace.”

Duet dancers run to Turn it Out.  Here we are.  Bring it.  Tell it.  No, don’t.  OK knees feel it.  Here we are.  Tell it.  No, wait.  OK now tell it, kick it, leap it.  Now fly.  We are the heat.  Here we stay.  We can bring it quiet, spin it loud, smile it right, live it.

Dancing chief comes to speak of the Promise.  Her torso explodes across the sky.  Her palms cool the contour of the earth.  Her complete energy proclaims.  Her footprints are from her maker.

A poets’ message for me:  “finally get away from the madness, just call my name.”  “You can “stand in the midst and let God have his way.”

Dancers reprise and respond with Marvelous.

Marvelous, the message flows, connects.  I will see space carved to the end of the earth, movement redeemed, all given.

Marvelous, the message flows, ignites.  I will see fire’s center, flames of light, life given.

Marvelous, the message flows.  I will see me set free, elbows unclasped, torsos unleashed, fullness forever.  Marvel.

Piano washes away all the stillness of the sea waiting for you and me.  The quiet is God blessing our own.  And we hear the echo of the poet again, “I am done holding on.  Today I am standing on your promises.”

Tags: Praise dance poem

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 9:01 am and is filed under Dance Audience, Dance Poems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.