What the World Needs Now (Is Love)
Photo credit: Steven Pisano
A message from our executive director:
Dear friends,
"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” - Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“I have decided to stick to love... Hate is too great a burden to bear.” - Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Love is an action, never simply a feeling.” - bell hooks
This month, in honor of Black History Month, I have been turning to lessons from teachers, spiritual leaders, activists and artists who invoke an ethos, perspective and guide in taking action that aligns with values I wish to imbue into stewarding DanceStream Projects, our teams and our collaborative practice. February also happens to be the month of Valentine’s Day, but rather than focusing on romantic love, I feel called to emphasize the other dimensions of love these leaders espoused. Rather than centering love and its implications for how we navigate life only on this one day or month of the year, I am inviting us to consider how we can invite love as an action into each day especially as we move forward into this new year. A year which brings much uncertainty, confusion and difficulty.
bell hooks, in her book, “All About Love” begins by recognizing the importance of defining love. From this definition, we can then begin to build a roadmap into our journey in practicing love within ourselves and our communities. For me, love requires vulnerability and courage. A willingness to venture into the unknown, both within ourselves and with others and in so doing uncover and nurture something new.
In our inaugural Dancing into Brain Health podcast, our guest Dr. Constantina Theofanopoulou ruminated on the potential hurtle to embracing dance being that engaging in dance necessitates vulnerability. And vulnerability is difficult, opening ourselves to pain as well as joy. But the effect of cultivating vulnerability, especially within a community that centers belonging and witnessing without judgement, celebrating mistakes as risk taking and showing up for one another through the process rather than focusing only on a hypothetical outcome, has profound benefits for us as individuals and as communities.
When we engage in shared dance practice, we cultivate within our community this type of flexing of our vulnerability muscle. In time, we can see what impact doing this can make on a sense of love toward oneself and toward others.
As one participant in the Stories in the Moment dance program for people living with dementia shares: “I would simply say in getting together and learning about each other, there's an exhilarating experience. I walk away with something very special, whether I can identify it or not, it's still special.”
Reader, how do you define love?
With love,
