I’m a dance maker and movement educator. I live off-grid in a straw bale house in a small mountain town in Colorado, pop. 272. My partner and I built our home after a forest fire burned down our 500 square foot log cabin in 2003. This house of ours — its location, history, and the sensibility that it holds — propels me forward as a dance maker, living far away from the center stream.
It is quiet in our home — no buzz, clicks or current running through. No beeps or hums. No swish of sound. It’s only the sun that makes this home run. And in this quiet, I’m listening. And in this listening, I’m wondering. And in this wondering, I’m writing, about dancing. About bodies, dancing.
All bodies, everywhere, dancing.
The kind of dancing that reaches into the depths of each of us to find imagination. An imagination that gives rise — slowly, quietly — to the ancient and the animal. It's like a language, this dance is, of the inside sky.
I’m curious about this, this inside sky, where the intuitive mind and the imaginative body meet, in our movement and our stillness. How, in that place of meeting, the body opens, to infinite possibility and wonder.
So then, this newsletter, where we can wonder together, about the sky inside, all of us.
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If you feel curious to read more, consider subscribing to this newsletter, and then consider becoming a paid subscriber. This will allow me to keep writing this newsletter for you, and everyone else who reads it. All content is free to everyone whether you choose to pay or not, but a financial investment ensures it’s on-goingness.
Here are a few things people have said about this newsletter, The Sky Inside:
“Beautiful, Joanna, as always. What a pleasure to read about your pleasure. And to be reminded of the importance of it. Your newsletters are like little drops of a life-affirming elixir: deceptively small and amazingly powerful. Kind of like you ;) Big hugs, Giulia” — Professor of Art History and Theater Artist.
“Your poetry led me back to my own voice this morning. I followed it like crumbs into a dark wood. Beauty has gone missing from my words for a long while now. Trying to find my way back.” — Karen Auvinen, Writer.
“Thank u thank u thank u. Your mail is just as always so deeply touching, thoughtful and inspiring…! A feeling arise that I am in a precious community getting your wonderful mails!” — Ulrika Wedin, Dance Artist, Sweden.
"Oh my! I am moved through and through, all the way to the essential. Thank you for your newsletter." — Ana Maria Hernando, Visual Artist.
“Thank you for this and each message. I am deeply furthered and nurtured in what I do by your sharings. In spirited partnership” — Beth Osnes, Theater Artist.
"I cannot tell you how much I love your weekly emails. Last year at my stressful, void of creativity and humanity job as a healthcare consultant, I would sneak off to the bathroom and read your emails. More than once they reminded me that I was still an alive being and more then once they made me sob with the joy of knowing that you exist and you create a world full of the work that I admire and adore. So thank you for those life saving moments for me!!" — Ailey Picasso, Dancer.
“This is waaaaaay better than ballet. This is rock and roll.” — said 6 year old, Giovanni, before she leapt back into the fray of a wild and crazy dance class to do a somersault.
“You are a wonder. You are a wonder. You are.” — Steve Wangh, Theater Artist.
To be part of this conversation about bodies — yours and mine — spilling into space, click here:
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Looking forward to having you here.
Joanna
