A Song to Dance!

What dance is, when I live in my body.

Teaching my body to be 3 again. First little Juhi, demanding she be allowed to learn dance with her older sister. Song to Dance. Text by and photo of JkM

Your weekends were all taken
hanging at your dancing school
creating a dance studio
inside our very home
how unusual you were
doing tap modern jazz
traveling to other cities
with your troupe of HS gals
the price I had to pay
so you could shine on stage
my job always behind the scenes
pinning dresses straightening seams
sitting in the back forever
filming you for eternity
on VHS, before smartphones
with three children in tow.

I watch those very tapes now
and I see your stilted moves
you bought the heady fandom
and you bought the tickets too
for your staff to all recitals
you bought your celebrity
in small town U.S.A.
I see now what dance is
what dance can really be
what dance is meant to be
in the right hands on the right feet
from the heart of a man
isolating movements
the body wave, the
heel groove ending in the
James Brown shimmy.

Now I am learning to do
plie, next conquer all positions
too early for jete or pas de deux
learning Kathak from my lady
learning freestyle and hip hop
it’s really a young man’s game
but I will surely try,
and battement tendu like
Michael J before he died.
Will I at sixty five ever learn
to isolate my neck my
torso, or reach the perfect kick?
hips already rotating in four directions
to my kids’ consternation.
Not competing with you
how could I hope to win?

Being gentle with myself
teaching my body to re-live.

The following lyrics are from Munna Michael starring Baby Boy.

Dance! Like there’s no tomorrow
Dance! Feel the rhythm and kill the sorrow
Dance! Spread your wings and kiss the sky
Dance! A million stars are shining bright. Dance!

©JkMansi Juhi Kalra 2018. All rights reserved.

Thanks to Terijo at Intimately Intricate.

Loving Pussy

Joan, a happy piece coz I know how that makes you happy.