"Dancing is the Poetry of the Foot."

Dance and I have a long history together! I started African dance in the 7th grade and I mostly do modern and liturgical dance. I did just a niddle baby bit of tap and hip hop, but those were waaaay too technical for my liking. I stopped for a while 8 years to be exact but my gift of dance has been awakened and I am completely ready to use it!

Moral of this story, don't let go of your gift for people that don't appreciate it or don't understand it. What God gives to you, ain't for everyone to like, love, or understand! I let go of it, like I said, but I thank God that He allowed my gift and talent to stay with me! Maybe I'll start recording myself to upload on my YouTube channel. (I have to lose a couple of lbs but we'll see.. maybe!)

Anywho, with all of that being said, I really just wanted to share a few pics and one of my favorite videos from the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre. They are the absolute best!! Enjoy!

“We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams.” ~Unknown

STRESS!

The definition of STRESS,in the words of Mr. Riley Freeman:

"The confusion created when one’s mind overrides the bodies desire to choke the living shit outta someone who desperately needs it!"

How many times have you been stressed today??

Heart Flutters: Won't Be Lonely/Love Ultra

Take a listen, first and get into this Dwele with me....

I'm just having one of those days when the words and sounds of a song can implant love and peace of mind, in the place of all of your worries and fears.... *extra long and hard sigh*

Now, just read the Love Ultra lyrics...

Assume that we can be one under the sun
Should'nt be that bad because we are one
And you can be
My woman my love
Now that I got time to be your man

C'mon baby, we should be together forever infinity
Love ultra (don't, don't, don't)
Beyond whatever it is you fantasize
Let me, be the one to open you up to
A love beyond
All you've been opened up today we go
Find that way to find love
Above and beyond any other
Love ultra (don't, don't, don't)
Don't you feel the same that I feel for,
Feel the touch of me touch, feeling you
Love ain't up me, but leave it up to me
I love you

[skat adlib]

Find a love, find a love

[skat adlib]

Assume that we can be one under a love
It don't seem hard to conceive, huh
I wanna be your man
You can be lady
We can make love, or even make
(Nah not yet)
We can make love to surpass horizons
Whatever it is, my love, fantasize it
They say fantasies come true when love is due
Let me be the one to open you up to
Love ultra

(Our love, our love ultra...)

Random Thought // Skin Deep

It's 2010, why are we still having the "light skin" vs "dark skin" debate? As much as folks wanna misconstrue the "issue", here are 3 points that my friend Eboni pointed out that ring true:

1. No matter what your complexion is as a black person in America some people look at you and only see a "nigger".

2. Everyone has a preference and that's okay, but comparing and contrasting is not.

3. Its so sad that the Willie Lynch mindset is still so effective today.

People, please remember it IS a hit on our self pride as a whole by dissecting ourselves from something as trivial as tone.

All in all, one factor remains:

BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL.

Food For Thought: The Sankofa

Alot of people tend to notice my Sankofa bird tattoo, and I always get asked about its meaning. Sometimes, I will take the time to actually explain it in full. Luckily, I'm in the explaining mood and just felt like sharing the meaning with you...

"Sankofa" teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward. That is, we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone or been stripped of, can be reclaimed, revived, preserved and perpetuated.

Visually and symbolically "Sankofa" is expressed as a mythic bird that flies forward while looking backward with an egg (symbolizing the future) in its mouth.

Most people usually get the other symbol, made popular by Janet Jackson, (you can see it HERE) but I think mine is unique and stands out... Does that remind you of someone? Me! LOL

Plus, I got to doll it up with my favorite colors, pink and green. I'm actually thinking of added to the tail, maybe a bracelet to symbolize Karma.. to have the "what goes around, comes around" meaning to it. But, I'm not sure about that, just yet...

CS Musical Dissertation // Tennessee

Where are the horseshoes?!?

(Chorus) 

"Take me to another place, Take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, Let me understand your plan"

Man, this song takes me back to 1992. That year our family reunion and it was in the great state of TN. So you already know this song was in heavy rotation. Just hearing the first bars of it remind me of backyard cookouts, lemonade out of glass jars and sitting around listening to stories with my great-great grandfather of the days when the turn of the century just occurred and the changes there were for black folk.

A few days ago it came on the radio while I was cleaning the car, and just taking time to LISTEN to the words had me ponder on the depth that it goes into. Arrested Development, man the songwriting is awesome.  The lyrics that hits home the most are these:

"Where the ghost of childhood haunts me
Walk the roads my forefathers walked
Climbed the trees my forefathers hung from
Ask those trees for all their wisdom"

Damn.

I know at the time I was too young to get the whole jist of the message, but my goodness, this song is so spiritual and just full of meaning. It made me appreciate it even that much more. Made me appreciate those talks with my great-great about how he'd seen almost a century of change, pain, power & glory that had been bestowed upon our people as a whole.

I urge you to take a moment and let yourself be taken to Tennessee...