Day 317: Dancing in the Dark

This made me smile, early in the day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpUNA2nutbk

Honestly, I’m blown away. I did Five Rhythms today in St Peter’s Church in Vauxhall, with the delicious Emily Moon and equally tasty Karen Smithson. It was amazing. I’ve only done it a few times, at Esalen, and my memory of it was of something where the leader was quite controlling of the kind of movements that were right for each thing, all while encouraging self-expression. I remember doing ‘Dance Your Prayers’ and liking that more – that was our hour and a half of dancing in the morning before work. Beautiful. Amazing. Such a good start to the day.

This session tonight was more like that. Since I stopped drinking alcohol, dancing in clubs has always been a challenge for me. I want to be free, but I feel uptight (verklemmt sums it up so much more aptly). This was amazing. I didn’t mind at all being ungainly and I didn’t mind at all being graceful. There were a few moments where I felt self-conscious, but they were massively in the minority. I LOVED it. Just so good. There’s no question – I’m definitely going back. And there must have been fifty or so people – possibly even more. It was amazing. Such a pleasure. I danced with lots of people and touched a few, even. It was fabulous.

Hello Pillow?

Thanks for a lovely email exchange with Simone Tani. Very pleased about that. I’ve been meaning to write to him for a month, maybe even more, and today I finally did it. He emailed back and we’re in conversation, which is great. I haven’t had internet to write back easily since getting his email today, but I will.

Best clowning people?

On the W7 on the way up to Muswell Hill, one man joined a whole army of people in joy by singing along with his iPod. So brilliant. He was making sounds like a small boy, all high and whiny. There was no WAY you could work out what he was listening to. He was really going for it, evidently not knowing that he was doing it audibly. I was watching him in the reflection through the window. The girl on the other front seat was doing it too. We caught each other’s eye in the window and sniggered, and then in actual  real time too.

There were points where I was full on snorting and she and the man who’d sat next to her too. When I checked, everyone else was quietly pissing themselves without making contact. Very British. Then he stopped… regaled us again by starting up again and then stopped for good. God, he made that trip good, though. I was sorry that the girl didn’t make eye contact as she got off the bus, but the guy did and we grinned. Thank you, Whiny iPod Man. You were wonderful.

Oh, and I spent the day in Brighton after staying with J in Hove. That was lovely. Very lovely. And I might move there. I’ll sleep on it tonight, but I think it’s pretty likely. It won’t be forever. Maybe just until Christmas. I really don’t know. But rent is affordable. Winters by the sea please me more than summers. There’s good light down there. There’s good air. I can cycle to anywhere. Fuck, it’s this or Yorkshire. London is so expensive. I haven’t heard back from the Muswell Hill lot and it’s tomorrow they might want me to go back and visit if I’ve passed the test. Even then, not the best room ever, and it’s expensive. I could just pop down there and get somewhere to live this weekend. That’d be cool. Well cool. Wouldn’t it, though? Amazing. I’d no doubt spend a fair amount of time up here – and at some point I’ll do the ride up to Clapham. I’d get a Boris Bike membership if I did, for definite. We’ll see. It’s absolutely to be slept on, so here I go. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Decide.