Reveries on the Art of Improvisation – in Dancing and in Life

I’ve been dancing and writing all my life.
At first, to myself, in notebooks:
In moments of inspiration, in the studio, alone when I’m trying to create something new, or in class with my students all around me
I write in the morning.
I write when I’m distressed, but also when I’m joyful.
I write when I’m questioning my life, my choices,
When the new year starts, on my birthday, my son’s or my partner’s.
And at any moment I can spare.

I started writing in the fifth grade, at first to God; later I would address myself to “my dear diary”
Much later I wrote while in meditation retreats, and during other therapeutic processes I went through,
I wrote morning pages on the liberation of my creative spirit.
I wrote to all my life-partners, in loving moments, in moments of difficulty, and finally, in moments of separation.

In recent years I’ve been writing to my students, before and after class:
What was, what came to me, what I want to develop in the class next week.
I write when I’m “dissatisfied”, when I’m unease and want things to change.
I write my life as it is, what I have and what I intend to have, on different levels.

I write in notebooks of different sizes, from around the world.
For me, going into a stencil shop, especially in certain places in Europe, and picking out a new notebook, is a unique experience, almost spiritual.

I’ve been writing, and dancing, all my life.
Today I’m begun to write for my new blog, our new blog.

It’s been two years since I realized I’ve wanted to write a blog, but for all my love of writing, I didn’t know how.
And yesterday – that was it! The realization came, and it went straight from my head and onto the page (or rather, computer screen)
The question that was holding me back was – how to choose?
Out of everything in me, everything I do,
Where to start?
And then I realized, that it’s just like when I teach or perform:
I bring myself as I am with everything that’s in me to that moment, to the students or to the audience.
This blog will be in that very spirit of improvisation, which has filled my entire life.
Because improvisation has always supported a feeling I’ve had since I was a child:
That what’s really important is the present moment, and everything that’s in it.
And so this blog will be talking about contact and improvisation in exactly the same way I’ve lived, danced, and taught, until today. There will be no duality.

I’ll be talking about myself.
About my professional and personal life, and the various questions that drive me.
On how for the past 20 years I’ve been teaching people to connect to their body through motion, through improvisation.
I’m going to write about exciting moments from studio classes, that echo truths about life.
About the way people change and let themselves expand their own boundaries, and find the power hidden deep inside their body.
I’ll write about challenges, about the questions that arise in me when I’m leading people who are looking for change, for healing.
I’ll write about how I try to help others, how I piece together all the knowledge I’ve gathered into a multitude of steps, helping those who wish to walk the way of healing and change, who wish to go beyond the hurdles of criticism, cynicism, body-dissociation, and so many others…
I’ll write about poetic moments, when everyday motion becomes a movement touched by grace,
When the head stops thinking and the body leads the way through our emotions.
I’ll write about the changes happening in the expanding field of Improvisation, in the past 20 years and throughout the globe
I’ll write about fellow-creators who are honestly searching for a way to bring the body’s natural forces back to life
I’ll share books I’ve read, performances, films, plays that I find thought-provoking.
I’ll write about my ever-changing life, about being a mother for my son Aviv, a lover to my partner Avishai, about the new family we’re building together, about the challenges.
I’ll write about the passion that now drives me towards social involvement, on how to awaken and reinforce real change through connection to the body and through improvisation.
I’ll write as I have danced all these years: With a sincere desire for honesty, dialogue, and out of my calling to awaken people.
To awaken us to what’s exciting, to what’s scary and full of joy at the same time.
I’ll write about improvisation as a tool to expand the freedom and possibilities in everyone’s life,
And about the journey you can make through the body and through motion.

And if these words stirred you up, brought up questions, thoughts, dreams or reveries, you are welcome to share, to write, to suggest…

So here we go……