{"id":554,"date":"2016-03-15T11:11:12","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T15:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/?p=554"},"modified":"2016-03-15T10:03:40","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T14:03:40","slug":"doundounba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/?p=554","title":{"rendered":"Doundounba"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSC_6555\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Doundounba; a dance I\u2019ve always resisted.\u00a0 At this evening\u2019s dance class, we did Doundounba.\u00a0 Pam, our gifted dance teacher reminded us that it is a dance from the Mande people of Guinee.\u00a0 It\u2019s a dance traditionally done by men and it\u2019s a dance of great strength.\u00a0 I also remember that if there\u2019s a celebration, Doundounba is sure to be danced.\u00a0 This dance of strength; it never, ever felt right in my body.<\/p>\n

\u201cChazak.\u00a0 Chazak. \u00a0V\u2019nitchazek\u201d is a phrase that can be interpreted as \u201cStrength. Strength.\u00a0 And we will be strengthened.\u201d\u00a0 When reading from the Torah, when each of the five books is finished, the entire congregation exclaims these words in Hebrew. \u00a0On Saturday, the book of Exodus ended.\u00a0 These words of strength were recited around me and echoed through me.<\/p>\n

What does strength mean?\u00a0 I have heard others use the word about me and I get confused.\u00a0 What does it mean for me and to me now?\u00a0\u00a0 Am I undergoing a test of some sort of strength?\u00a0 Is my vulnerability a strength?\u00a0 Is living with such agony a strength?\u00a0 What about simply being able to function in the midst of a most devastating loss?\u00a0 I weep, sometimes I wail.\u00a0 And occasionally amidst the flood, I know that I literally need to change the channel that I\u2019m listening to, for a shift in my internal music.<\/p>\n

I notice the dancers before me, and while they were doing the very manly, strong steps, they were at the same time, dancing with such grace.\u00a0 One dear friend remarks how much fun it was.\u00a0 How could this possibly be?\u00a0 Some steps were coming to me with more openness.\u00a0 There was one with fancy footwork that I truly fumbled.\u00a0 I realized that this dance is my life.\u00a0 All of this is a reflection of my life.\u00a0 Grace, fortitude, fumbling and fun.\u00a0 I never did get that particular step.\u00a0 There will be other chances.<\/p>\n

I reflect on the three powerful words.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that much has been written about these words. \u00a0I love the \u201cwe\u201d part and at the same time, I wonder. \u00a0Could \u201cwe\u201d be the different parts of myself? \u00a0Is it my family and me?\u00a0 The community and me?\u00a0 The culture?\u00a0 My ancestors? \u00a0Those yet to come? \u00a0Maya and me?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The photo above is of a class led by Abdoulaye Sylla in Kingston, June of 2015.\u00a0 He left us in July.\u00a0 May his memory be a blessing<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doundounba; a dance I\u2019ve always resisted.\u00a0 At this evening\u2019s dance class, we did Doundounba.\u00a0 Pam, our gifted dance teacher reminded us that it is a dance from the Mande people of Guinee.\u00a0 It\u2019s a dance traditionally done by men and it\u2019s a dance of great strength.\u00a0 I also remember that if there\u2019s a celebration, Doundounba…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gifts-since"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p720L0-8W","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":562,"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions\/562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}