Day 14: Napflio, Greece - I Walk in Beauty.

 

Graham dancers rehearsing “Echo”.  Photo by the brilliant Guilherme Licurgo!!!

Oceanside European towns with cafe-spotted promenades are among my favorite places to visit. In Greece these towns come with ancient, heroic and sometimes sordid histories. Napflio, Greece is said to be the spot where Agamemnon departed for the Trojan War. I can see that.

There are fortresses and deserted castles that tell the story here. Amid the charming present-day shops with again, fun waterside canopied cafes where one can sip on a Caffe Freddo, there are stories.

My first photo collage. Selfies, street art and nature.

Self-portrait with cactus and hat.

Our dressing rooms were here at Hotel Agamemnon.

Here in Napflio I danced the Chosen One in Graham’s Rite of Spring. The sea, wind and isolation gave me a new environment to explore. I let these elements move me and felt somehow more vulnerable in the role than ever before.

Our performance site.

Backstage!!

My surroundings brought to mind a prayer that I first encountered as a young dance student at the Martha Graham School in New York City. It is the Prayer and Blessing of The Way attributed to the Navajo Peoples of North America, I share an interpretation of that blessing here (ref. Holistic Quantum Relativity):


Walking In Beauty (Blessing)

Today I will walk out, today everything unnecessary will leave me,
I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.
I will have a light body, I will be happy forever,
nothing will hinder me.
I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.
I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.
I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.

In beauty all day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons, may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.

With beauty before me may I walk.
With beauty behind me may I walk.
With beauty below me may I walk.
With beauty above me may I walk.
With beauty all around me may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
My words will be beautiful.

I dedicate this post to my beloved family and friends.