Dance with Me

July, 2016

The naming of the world, which is an act of creation and re-creation, is not possible if it is not infused with love. Paulo Freire (1996)

The simplicity of pedagogy of the arts is overlooked and too easily discredited by dominant literate cultures. Literacy programmes which emphasize learning, knowledge, dialogue, and empowerment for an illiterate Other, often miss acknowledging the literate wisdom of the body, the home: of beauty unspoken yet communicated . . . of wisdom shared in silence poignant with understanding. There is knowledge and power that is communicated in ways other than written or spoken literacy modes. There are other forms of literate knowing that have greater potential to address systemic inequity and the politics of oppression. But I suggest it must include all people in the movement of the dance. This goes beyond gesture; though that is a good beginning. This goes beyond self-conscious, self-effacing laughter in the moment of agreeing to dance; though that is also a good beginning. It requires willingness to lose oneself in the gaze of another person - who may sing, dance, perform, paint, recite poetry - and most certainly invite understanding through a dialogic exchange. It requires humility, selflessness, curiosity, and compassion for one’s self to be responsive to the danced text of another person’s body: to touch the soul of the human being offering the true self: vulnerable, strong, free. This place of encounter is the beginning place of knowing and of knowledge: of love.

Dialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of a profound love for the world and for people. The naming of the world, which is an act of creation and re-creation, is not possible if it is not infused with love. Love is at the same time the foundation of dialogue and dialogue itself . . . - Paulo Freire (1996)

July lucid