Dances Begging To Be Danced by Salyna Gracie

We feel the pull of life's calling to us deep down in our bones…

The songs our soul sings to guide us in the task of sharing our beauty with the world. Taking us to the place where we can witness the smallest of miracles and the magnificent power of grace. Dancing our prayers, our hopes, our dreams: A deep breath for all of humanity.

Dances Begging To Be Danced

There were so many dances in me

I could not find the hours to dance them all

Up dances

Down dances

In dances

Out dances

Dances leading into dances and around again

Rhythms and melodies pounding the blood in my head

Pushing at the soles of my feet

All day dances

All night dances

Dances begging to be danced

Dances borrowing sleep

Stealing time

Dances like a firestorm

Raging and wild

Dances like silence

Breath and sinew

Dances all alone

Dances with you

There is a dance within me still

Curled among the backbones

Locked into frozen joints

Floating in the palm of my hand

Dances alive in the soulsong

The torn shoes

The empty hall

The trail of coins and silk

Dances begging to be danced

Among the ruins

To celebrate what is left

Pictured: Dancer Isadora Duncan

Photography by Yuko Ishii

Salyna Gracie is the director of Red Lotus Dance Company. She performs and teaches Middle Eastern Dance and facilitates the Red Lotus SEEDs program which mentors teen girls through dance at her studio in a small rural town in Washington state. Salyna’s dancing reflects a commitment to personal growth by internalizing rhythms and expressing emotion through the body – dancing from the heart. Poetry and visual art continue the conversation of dance with words and images that dance on the page. You may contact her through her website here and her artwork here.

~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~

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