cherry blossoms

cherry blossoms, originally uploaded by jenniferlarson.

My lovely friend Emily dancing a cherry blossom dance on a beautiful spring morning. Ah. And if you want to dance with Emily, here’s a link to her website.

 

black sea treaures

black sea treaures, originally uploaded by jenniferlarson.

March 17
Went to a fabulous performance by the Ethnic Dance Theatre at the Ritz, in Minneapolis. Amazing costumes, dance, and singing. Dances and music from Romania, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Ukraine. This is at the end, when audience members are invited up for a final dance.

 

voladores

voladores, originally uploaded by jenniferlarson.

Today we traveled to the mountain town of Cuetzalan, where we spent much of our time. We stayed in the Hotel Taselotzen, a hotel run by a collective of women from five indigenous communities. They money they make from the hotel goes back toward their communities.

One thing Cuetzalan is known for is its voladores (flyers). Five or more dancers climb up a wooden pole almost as tall as the cathedral. They get back to the ground by “flying” upsidedown by ropes, rotating around the pole, slowly lowering them to the ground. (I’ll post a video.)  This voladore stays at the top while the other dancers fly down, helping to rotate their ropes.  Then he slid down on a rope.

 

african dance

March 17.  Christy’s community ed. African dance class had a little show on the last day of class.  I think I might sign up for the next round.  Looks like fun!

 

circle dance

August 9.  I attended a sacred circle dance workshop at Villa Maria retreat center near Red Wing this weekend.