Open the door for others to share but keep your door closed. Being a good listener is a profound skill and so many are hungry to share and be heard. You can easily be the one with whom everyone shares their secrets and in that cloak you can stay hidden. Love outward but not inward. If you focus your time Read More …
Recently a friend of mine commented that the only way to make friends in Vancouver was to sleep with them. This may seem like a crass comment, but he was genuinely saying that the closest people in his life are people that he’s been in intimate relationships with. This is not the first time that I’ve heard something like this, Read More …
In the pursuit of a passion it’s inevitable that you might have some time where you hate what you love. There are times in both fencing and dancing that I have truly struggled to stay in a place of enjoyment. Meaning I have struggled and failed. I have had days and weeks of being truly dissatisfied and even a period Read More …
A few years ago I was in a very high pressure rapier tournament. It was the largest and hardest fought tournament in the Northwest with a list of 50 fencers who were arguably some of the best fencers around competing. On my way down my travel companion asked me “So how do you think you’re going to do in the Read More …
How special a thing it is to be truly seen and in that seeing to be taken and accepted as you are. I feel this is one of the truest ways we can express love for another. Much of our time as modern humans is spent creating and maintaining a projection of ourselves even to those we feel closest to. Read More …
I’m so used to filling space. I fill space with plans and work, conversation and music. A quiet space is quickly filled with people and activity. There can be an awkwardness to space. Drawing my partner in, the music feeding our footsteps, my choreography comes to a conclusion and there she is at the end of my outstretched hand, hovering Read More …
What is your motivation for excelling and improving? Note this is not the question of “why you do this”. There are tons of good reason for that (fun, connection, fitness, etc) but why get better at it? Once you get to a certain level, why pursue greater mastery? One of the most compelling and long lasting reasons I have continued Read More …
Almost every project I have worked on needs more emotion. We’re a culture deprived of healthy emotional expression and connection. Much of what we produce is flat and devoid of true passion and colour. People are hungry for it, our work is hungry for it. Let me make a distinction: Emotional expression is the healthy and natural feeling of anger, Read More …
Tonight I chose to transcend technique. It’s so easy to get caught up in the rules, the steps, the movements, and the patterns of a dance. These tools are important for conveying the underlying principles of a dance form but in the end all techniques are just that, tools. They provide a framework for telling us how to connect, how Read More …
“I don’t want to admit this — because I don’t like to need things — but this is exactly what I need.” said a private student of mine after a recent session of learning to use a longsword. There are times when we need to do something physical to feel connected with ourselves. Not just physical with our own bodies Read More …