Dancing in the Moonlight – Lavander Crimson Gradient

Review about OurBody Moves Berlin Workshop co-organized by House of Girls.

6PM. Thursday. Three gothic windows facing the rising full moon. White room, a dance studio. 15 people.
The music starts and we begin to move our bodies around the space. Mine feels weird, and stiff. I just came from work and had a really busy week, so of course I feel like a brick wall. And, mind you, I love dancing, and I have some dancing roots – way way back in the day though. I’m giving excuses to myself. This makes me feel even more like a brick wall. I also barely know anyone there except for a few friends. Another excuse.
Beginning of the workshop.

15 minutes in, none of this bothers me anymore.
After warming up for some time, we find ourselves lying on the floor-guided by Lauren ́s melodic voice, telling us to scan our bodies. “Find your colour”, “embody it”, she says. “Who is this colour, how does it move?”. I ́m lavender. It slowly raises from my feet forming a wave up to the top of my head and beyond me. I get up for a new round of dancing, carrying this colour with me and becoming it, and without noticing the transition, everyone around me becomes an energy-driven vessel. It doesn ́t matter who these people are anymore, all that matters is that they too are exploring their own colours. They ́re finding their rhythms, they ́re losing a sense of their body.
Tuning it in and out. In with the vigorous vibe and out of rationality.
Suddenly I don ́t feel like a brick wall anymore, and my breathing is synchronised with my movements. I have no idea when this happened. I must have tapped into flow. And so has everyone else. We become a soul-synced creature that feeds on rhythm. We glide into a tight circle (to close for a usual body to body distance), all quite sweaty at this point, but no one really gives a shit about that because we cannot stop dancing. We became the rhythm. We jump away from each other and explore wide and strong movements, and then we come back together and so on for a few more repetitions. We are the creature ́s pulse. It doesn ́t really matter what music is playing in the background. It liquidised and we are moving through it like a stream. You ́d think that you re being your own driving force. You have relaxed, you have surrendered to the irrational. Your body has super-strength and it is some entity outside of spacetime. Well, yes, but you ́re not really the only driving force. As much as you are exploring your own inner and outer boundaries, a really important element is the following fact : so is everyone else. Unaware of it, you give fire to each other. That verve and flexibility? Half of it comes from the surrounding.
And that euphonious guiding voice, leading us through seamless transitions between levels of exploration.
Hell, Lauren is a great overseer. She gave us hints, and conducted the shared heartbeat.

8PM. Thursday. Body scan. My colour now : crimson. Three gothic windows facing a perfectly centred, fully lit full moon hovering above the city on a pastel coloured sky. The perfect gradient – from coral to lavender to blue. My body is warm and elastic. All bodies in the room are radiating.
You know that feeling of “wooow” followed by speechlessness and a probable “how is this even real?” when you look up to the clear night sky and you can see the light of the stars (but really, notthe big-city-night-sky, I mean the real night sky) – that was us. All of it, the bewilderingly, beautifully lit night sky, the stars and the flabbergasted observer.