My regular art day got switched this week from Wednesday to Friday because I had to cover someone at work– so here I am a little belated this week.
I’ve been working on this drawing the last few nights– inspired by something I wrote about dancing for a graphic design class I took this past Spring. I was watching a video of an Alvin Ailey dancer and it made me think a lot about the elemental nature of dancing– the heartbeat rhythm, the joy of being alive, the playfulness.
I’ve always loved to dance, but as an adult, I’ve always had trouble being completely uninhibited. At some point, many of us learn to feel ashamed or embarrassed about our bodies, and that is hard to overcome. Dancing gets all caught up in social situations, especially in high school when we go to dances not to rejoice in being alive, but to see and be seen.
It would be wonderful if we could all dance a lot more, just for the pure joy of physical movement. Wide open-hearted dancing is somewhere in the realm of laughing; it can release the tensions of the heart and open up deep joy that flows through the whole body.
I will be putting this drawing, and prints of it, for sale in my shop shortly. Thanks for looking, and Happy Friday!
“Hopscotch,” 8 x 10 inches, pen and ink
