This October was about getting serious with being self-employed. Having spent many years working physically in seasonal agriculture jobs, or high stress study and employment, I was not keen on going back to that. I needed to find balance in life. Much of October was spent in getting together a financial plan and business plan, and now in the spring of southern hemisphere, there were markets most weekends. With the build on hold and needing to be ultra conservative with spends to recover financially, the challenge then to occupy the mind to regain balance (instead of panicking), is do something uplifting, engaging, free and fun. So, I got back to dance.
Have you heard the story of Gillian Lynne, Andrew Lloyd Weber's brilliant choreographer, who as a child was going to be sent to a special school for intellectual disabilities? Thankfully her parents consulted a psychologist who recognised in Gillian her frustrations in being made to conform to a school system where one must sit still -but who blossomed in moving to music. I read this story in a rare book purchase years ago (The Element by Ken Robinson), when on a self-made Flamenco tour in SA, (a treat for surviving and passing another year of university study), when my return flight to WA was delayed for some hours. This book is full of stories like Gillian's, of people who don't fit societies accepted mold. While only a slim minority of us have the talent and luck to have that level of international standing, we ALL have gifts, talents and abilities that bring us joy by allowing our creativity, and soul, to shine.
Years ago in QLD, I had the perfect right teacher and started to peel back layers of conditioning; on what became a healing journey to reclaim the self within. Back in WA I became a Flamenco groupie (officiando), chasing Flamenco culture in between raising kids and working and volunteering in community. Eventually I was able to perform as a soloist, organised a Flamenco concert for the town, and later had my own local performance group. Recently though, dance had taken a back seat....
Another challenge on the horizon is to turn my picture book drafts about dance into the reality of completed books... life is never short of challenges!
And the trip to SA? Was a cherished dream of attending a workshop with Antonio Vargas, the Flamenco star of the movie, 'Strictly Ballroom' (who was just as amazing teaching in real life as on screen). Later, when I taught free Flamenco classes in schools, I always used the 'fiesta' clip, from the movie to show boys that men dance too :)
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