I Praise the Dance

I praise the dance
for it frees people from the heaviness of matter
and binds the isolated to the community.
I praise the dance, which demands everything:
health and a clear spirit and a buoyant soul.
Dance is a transformation of space, of time, of people,
who are in constant dancer of becoming all brain,
will, or feeling.
Dancing demands a whole person
one who is firmly anchored in the center of his life
who is not obsessed by lust for people and things
and the demon of isolation in his own ego.
Dancing demands a freed person,
one who vibrates with the equipoise of all his powers.
I praise the dance.
O man, learn to dance,
or else the angels in heaven will not know
what to do with you.
Saint Augustine