Visioning to the drum beat. This was written afterwards to record the experience. I want to do an art piece to go with this.

Date:   4/29/2009 4:58:53 PM ( 15 y ago)

Dance of Life


“I have no equipment,” White Woman speaks.

The brown-skinned women dance, stomping their feet into the ground. Their breasts and hips and bellies tremble, sway, and bounce with the rhythm.

Katsina**, arms outstretched from his sides, pounds the earth, vibrating his fluttering eagle feathers.

“I have no equipment,” White Woman speaks.

Jungle vines swirl upwards, growing with the drum beat’s sound. Birds of brilliant hue fly within the growth, creating a mini-tornado.

“I have no equipment,” White Woman speaks.

Impossibly tall black-skinned men leap and swirl with their instruments, their dance of drums melding into the jungle’s fading light. The very earth pulses with their sound.

“I have no equipment,” White Woman speaks.

Water rushes over rocks as salmon make their way upstream, their bleeding bellies leaving ribbons of red in the rushing waters. The fish leap high and dive down low, following the pulsing beat.

“I have no equipment,” White Woman speaks.

The yellow-skinned men twirl and gyrate, leaping backwards and around to the sound. Their agile bodies form circles in the air, drum beats instructing their shapes.

“I have no equipment,” White Woman speaks.

Katsina grabs her hands and pulls her into the dance. She jumps up and down on her sturdy legs, her shoes shed, her breasts bare, her hips rotating to the beat. Katsina and White Woman stare into each others eyes and smile. The drums command their legs to dance wildly.

The night embraces the dancers. The drums slow, then stop. The dance over, Katsina and White Woman face each other, and bow.


--by Mayah




**Note: "Small brightly painted wooden dolls are what come to mind when people hear the word Katsina. These dolls are actually called tithu by the Hopi people...

Katsina primarily refers to the supernatural beings who are believed to visit Hopi villagers during half of the year. Katsinas have the power to bring rain, exercise control over the weather, help in many of the everyday activities of the villagers, punish offenders of ceremonial or social laws, and, in general, to function as messengers between the spiritual domain and mortals. Katsinas are spiritual messengers."

http://www.nau.edu/~hcpo-p/arts/kachina.htm


 

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