Balance

Phillip Moffitt came to speak at UT recently. He was a chief executive and editor-in-chief at Esquire magazine. He was, I hear, tremendously successful at both jobs. And then he walked away from it all. Not knowing the specifics, I assume that now he's a happier man.

He's written a book...on which he spoke at UT. I didn't get to hear him speak, but I've heard bits and pieces of his talk. The thing that's sticking with me is his advice to have a stillness practice as well as a movement practice.

I don't have an active movement practice, but I am often moved to dance. The genesis for my most recent (costume) project was an impulse towards and vision of a specific gesture. You can see it pictured above. Initially, I imagined it as part of a Mourning Dance. Once I'd made the sleeves, the context of the dance/gesture opened up. I put them on to dispel giddy mania as well as to fling away my poisonous and petty thoughts.

They provided ritual and created a liminal moment around my movement practice. I wish for them tonight to clear my head and get my heart pounding. Dance and creative movement provides a release different than that of running or exercising-to-exercise. (Not that I do those things either...)

Update: I would like to note, to myself and the vast anonymous internet, that I blogged about needing a movement practice rather than...moving around and beginning that practice.