Winter Dance Concert 22

 An Evening of Dance

our hearts appreciate eloquence

in driving music, in expressive art,

in how to use the movement of the body on stage

to create meaning,

to express self,

to say what can’t be said,

to joy in creation,

after a wondrous dance I rarely find words

to tell the story of what I experienced,

if it could be said in words,

what need is there for the physical?

instead dance is like the world

which expresses itself beautifully

in mountain and sea,

in flower and animal,

in seasons and in the change of seasons,

in the reality of our days,

tonight the dancers wrote in choreography and its movements

what spoke to their souls of stasis and metamorphosis,

the dancers, fully in the throes of high school

and in the increasingly full emergence of who they are, truly,

these dancers spoke of starting to dance before they knew why,

of having a champion who helped them find this way,

of the many hours learning the craft of how to move

with precision, clarity, grace,

of their need to move for their own well-being,

and we, who watch and experience 

what is said with body and movement,

need the dance for our own well-being,

I wish our society realized fully

the value we get from dance, from all the arts,

tonight, thank you, dancers,

for the effort and risk to reveal

what can be said and taught with dance,

for how well you were you on stage.

by Henry H. Walker     December 7, ‘22