Amis Ina & Faki

It's been a long while since I last danced with my dear golden ladies Toastmasters friends on stage. I'm feeling excited that nine golden ladies shall perform an authentic Taiwanese aboriginal dance at District 67 Fall Conference 2012 dinner party the coming weekend. For the past week, we met every other day to practice three to four hours. I felt so much recharged after each rehearsal. We tried on the costumes to dance for the first time at Lydia’s home from 3:30PM till 6:30PM this afternoon.

In a five minute dance, there are three parts, including Song of Puyuma, Amis cha cha, and Ode to Naluwan. In order to make the dance more poetic and romantic, I imagined myself as a fairy playing in the forest in the Song of Puyuma, a sexy Amis Ina at a banquet in Amis cha cha, and Goddess Aphrodite praying on the beach in Ode to Naruwan!

Dancing is fun! With the movement of the body through space, the rhythms of athletics as a physical poetry, I feel reconnected to the Nature. I like the concept of the poetic body of Jacques Lecoq, the founder of L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Lecoq’s training is to aim at nurturing the creativity of the performer, the physicality of performance with le jeu (playfulness), complicité (togetherness), and disponsibilité (openness).

In less than two days, I shall dance on stage with my body and soul in one. I shall practice, practice, and practice till my body can memorize all the steps without thinking of them. It'll be an exciting experiment to feel the song of body and soul. It'll be exciting to introduce Taiwanese aboriginal dances to D67 Fall Conference Keynote Speaker Dr. Dilip Abayasekara, DTM, Past International President 2005, and many Toastmasters around the world.