Parvati

As usual, I found a great article in Yoga Journal. This one, by Sally Kempton, was about Parvati and Shiva. You can believe the Hindu story or use it as an archetype. Women she knew used it to see how to balance being feminine and masculine. They wanted to be, for instance, loving and assertive. They wanted to be soft, loving their partners and children, and assertive, saying "no" when they wanted to, saying what movie they wanted to watch, and saying what they did not like.

Parvati was Shiva's second wife and took him out of his doldrums after his first wife Sati died. Together, as in yin yan, I say, "their figures contain the full power of the Absolute". The author says that, when one contemplates them, they "shed a particular quality of light" into our consciousness. Their story inspired the Tantric texts, that are not only about sexual positions. By tuning into Parvati, one can liberate certain qualities in themselves. They enlarge one's sense of Self.

Parvati was powerful in a subtle, soft yet very strong way and inspired Shiva. Many wives do this for powerful husbands, and vice versa; we all have masculine and feminine in us. usually, men have more of the spirit, mind, and logic qualities and women have more of the feeling, sensuality and capacity qualities. (That's what she writes. If this is so, I must be a man. lol)

Parvati's aim was to reunite the masculine and feminine, inner and outer, spirit and soul. Parvati keeps taking on different roles, I can relate. In all the roles, her creativity, ecstasy and strength of will are paramount. She is an impulse to break through one's veils. She is a force of transformation. I like this phrase. Again, there is balance: transformation yet force.

Parvati can be powerful and focused, yet intuitive and caring.

Kempton writes: "The flow of creative will, the devotion that cannot be broken, the strength to live in liberated partnership--all are contained in the figure of Parvati, and they come alive in us when we contemplate her."

Creative will is also a balanced, interesting phrase of, in certain ways, opposites.

Extreme Physicality is All the Dance Article in Backstage May 5-11 2011 Issue

This article, by Lisa Jo Sagolla, ljsagolia@juno.com, points out to the balance needed between artistry/aesthetics and physicality/technicality/ability in dance. She is right on the money. She writes about some of the pros and cons in the increased agility of dancers. This agility is partly due to more practicing in ballet, other dance, Pilates, etc. Dancers often wow us with what they do, but sometimes try to one up the other, as in television reality shows, and lose the flow, creativity and artistry of the dance, and sometimes even the idea/message the choreography is trying to relay. Lynn Taylor-Corbett, choreographer of Broadway's Chess, Titanic and the film Footloose said. Joe Lanteri, executive director of the New York City Dance Alliance said that there are just many more well-trained dancers today, and that it is possible to have artistry with tricks. He says this is why choreography today is not as predictable as it once was. He does advise dancers not to incorporate anything too crazy into their routine unless they can perform it the required amount of times per week on stage, like the usual eight times a week on Broadway.

One of the reasons I like Martha Graham choreography so much is that both the difficulty and artistry/message are there.