Movement is magic and medicine
Dear community,
Eid Mubarak, shubh Navratri, and a very timely Trans Day of Visibility. Welcome.
I don’t have much to say about the indescribable conditions of the world right now. And if I was going to try, to be fair and balanced, I would also have to try to describe the incredible beauty of everything unfurling this spring - every flower, every love, every human. I don’t know where to begin, or end. We are all still unfurling. You can crush a flower, but not its roots.
What I do want to tell you is this - I’ve been dancing through my grief.
On August 30, 2024, my dear friend Alix Ponyboy Kolar (aka queer jeej) died of cancer. Two weeks later, I applied and got into a dance fellowship. These streams of love, grief, and dancing have become deeply intertwined since then. I’m finally dancing more than I’m crying. Or more accurately, I’m dancing enough to metabolize the grief. I continue to believe that love is a river, its essential nature is to flow into the vastest depths of the ocean. Such is grief too. It is the shade to love’s sun, the underbelly of what’s on top, its essential nature is night, dark & deep. It requires rest and stillness, a tender space to unfold, and only then does it show its face, streaked with salt & rage. There is deep stillness in my movement too, space for the utter collapse that is necessary for renewal & rebuilding.
The fellowship container created by Danza Organica has been an incredible space for me to channel loss, longing and vision for a more healing, liberated world. My dance piece is called “Love”. I am performing in Boston on April 4 and 5 alongside many incredible artists & activists at the We Create festival, on this year’s theme “The Movements that Free(d) Us." In the words of festival creator, Mar Parilla, “We Create! was born out of a strong need to uplift and showcase BIPOC artists in Boston - especially self-identified women and LGBTQ+ BIPOC artists.” There are dance performances about climate, Gaza, time and timelessness, gender, caste and more.
For my Boston-based community, this is an invitation to witness the full range of what we are going through at this moment in humanity’s journey - grief, agony, death, hope, love, freedom & power in community. And of course, creation! May these movements continue to free us. Tickets are here.
For my NYC-based community, I’ll be holding a movement-based workshop to share some of what I’ve been learning & leaning into, as a pathway for liberation. Save the date - April 19, time and venue is TBD. If you are interested in participating, please sign up here.
With love and light,
Nitika