Today marks the beginning of the springtime celebration season for Wisdom Dances. It is St. Lazarus Day today, and on this day in Bulgaria girls are dancing through their communities to bestow blessings. This is one of many traditions from the region of the Balkans, Greece, and Anatolia that take place now and continue through the beginning of May, and inspire our Earth Day Celebration.
We are practicing our songs and dances. I’m freshening up our costumes. And we are getting ready for a final culminating celebration that you are invited to witness and participate in on April 30.
I’m aware that we are preparing for this joy of spring as we approach the end of one of the snowiest recorded winters in Minnesota. It’s been such a persistent winter one could almost forget that we will see green leaves again. The persistent chaos and uncertainty feels very un-springlike.
We prepare ourselves with faith in the power of dance to make us feel alive. On any given week, we feel better after dancing than when we arrived. In springtime we lean into how this aliveness radiates into our community and the Earth.
Today, St. Lazarus Day, the Church remembers the story of Jesus restoring Lazarus to life four days after his death. This is the greatest miracle that Jesus performs in the gospel. It is what ignites crowds of people to swarm around Jesus on Palm Sunday and leads into Passion Week.
St. Lazarus day is a day about restoring life. I love any story that can help me enter into the Mystery of life emerging from death, so the mystery of the raising of Lazarus has always fascinated me. (I even choreographed a dance about the story while in high school – I guess I’ve been dancing on St. Lazarus day longer than I realized!)
Life emerging from death, grain dying to sprout a new plant – these are central images in the traditional dances we practice. Dancing into these images has given me a powerful in-the-bones confidence in this Mystery. This foundation helps me keep perspective as I witness so many old institutions fade; I can better see the new initiatives also arising (even if they are not manifest yet).
This is the time of year to call forth your aliveness. Give energy to what makes you feel most alive. It’s powerful to do this work collectively, calling forward life and healing for our whole community.
Awakening life energy is a theme in all that I offer through both dance and qigong during the springtime. I especially invite you to mark your calendars for the joy, music, dance, and beauty of our Earth Day Celebration!
Love,
emily
Come one, Come all to the Community Earth Day Celebration!
Join our dancing “Bees” for a culminating celebration on their day of dancing to bless the community. Be blessed. Join in on the blessing. Learn more about the joy and aliveness here. Free!
