Peeling back Layers: Prompt 8

I wrote this based on a solo I am setting on a dancer. The song has helped inspire the piece, and the movement comes from the topic of layers. With each section of the piece, the dancer reveals a new layer of herself. This is a scene that occurred in the studio. The song is White Blank Page by Mumford and Sons.

Can you lie next to hear and give her your heart, your heart? As well as your body, and

Her hand shakes before she places it on her check. You can sense the fear in her as she begins to reveal the most intimate layer she possesses. She looks as though she’s never touched her face before and the uncertainty swells, yet she persist in articulating each gesture with such grace. Slowly she embraces the back of her head, releasing her neck forward, causing a disruption in her poise as she stumbles backward with her hands grasping her stomach. For a brief moment, you think she may fall, but before you can complete your thought she’s back on her feet again. Her hand now holds a tense fists that peels across her chest that eventually falls to her side, shaking. The tension is still there only to intensify the intention. This can not come from anywhere but within and so quickly she has fallen on her hands and knees. She pauses.

Her white blank page and swelling rage. rage.

She’s patient. She waits. She doesn’t need to get up for anyone. And so, she takes her time slowly coming up. She faces you head on.

You did not think when you sent me to the brink. the brink.

She turns with her chest opening upward and the motion transfers to her leg gliding across the floor. Her tone isn’t the same, as the layer she’s revealed is no longer instilling a sense of fear anymore. No, its become something else. Something more. Her chest collapses forward only to ricochet back upward through her spine. She effortlessly floats one half of her body over the other as her feet barely leave the floor. She spins downward as she allows her body to collapse to the floor. This fall came not from weakness, but instead from control. She pauses. This time it isn’t long before she allows herself to get up and move, not for anyone, or anything, but simply for the essence of who she is.