Brazilian Zouk Magic - Gui & Kelsey - On the Nature of Daylight by Max Richter

The sound of violins often makes me feel very strongly. Sometimes I cry, others my heart starts racing and others I have goosebumps. Sometimes I have all those things together, but most of the times, I just travel far inside to a place where I find peace. The first time I heard On the Nature of Daylight was in 2016 when the movie Arrivals came out. Since then, this song became not only my go-to in moments where I needed to reflect and let stuff out but also became my dance challenge. Few times I tried, but I didn’t feel that I was doing justice to the song or that I had the tools to capture in movement the beauty of those sounds. I tried with all the dances I know, but it was not feeling right. Somewhat unconsciously I set as my goals the things that I needed to dance to this song and it is funny now to realize how much work I was putting into specific things in my dance just to tackle one challenge, one song. A few days ago, at the Intensive Retreat with Anderson Mendes and Brenda Carvalho, the opportunity to do another video with the Queen of the West, the Khaleesi of the Space Needle Land, Mother of Cats and Head Movements Master, Kelsey Rote, presented itself. Kuna was there filming A&B and I asked if he could do one of me and Kelsey and he said yes with all his amazing kindness and excitement. The place we were at, full of nature and silence, the kind of work we were doing and the venue where we were going to film at, a small meditation sanctuary, made the song almost an obvious choice to me. After a couple tries, Kuna asked if we could dance-travel around the sanctuary’s floor. I said yes, concentrated and got into a state of full presence. It was just me, Kelsey, the floor, the space, and the song. Nothing more. About 6 minutes later, the song was over and I was happy to just have danced to it with one of the best follows in existence. The next day I saw the video. This video. As I was watching Kelsey and I dance, I was unexpectedly overwhelmed by many emotions. It was like I was hearing the song in a different way and I cried for the first time to a dance video. I felt so many things, but the joy was the one I felt the most. I did it. I felt like Kelsey and I were flying and gliding at the same time, playing another instrument with our bodies, making music to the music. I know it might be too much, too cheesy or too exaggerated, but that was how I felt. I had an epiphany and for the first time, I felt that I finally completed the transition and became a full artist. I never thought I would cry to a dance video but the violins did their thing and, combined with the dance and its meaning, I was taken. I was taken by a wave of gratitude for Kelsey, for my family, my friends, my teachers, my students and all of those who contributed to my journey in some form. I thought about the chain of events that took me to that place, alongside good friends, watching myself dance in paradise and was so incredibly grateful. I still don’t feel I did full justice to this song, but it was a good start. Sometimes we, members of the dance world, get so caught up on how things should look, be named, done, the rights and wrongs, the ones and fives, what it is and what it isn’t that we forget that we are before anything else putting art and culture in this world through our movements. This is one of the greatest honors and privileges of this short life of ours. In a world ruled by the material, the mind and logic, we bring the immaterial, the feel and the instinct to balance things out. In partner dancing feels like even more so, because we are co-creating art with someone else, in synchrony generated by trust and the most beautiful way of silent communication. We witness each other. We witness each other’s bodies creating movement, art, and culture, and few things are more beautiful than that. Whatever part of the dance journey we are in, it is good to remember that we are all artists and ambassadors of a culture. We play, sing, paint, write and sculpt with our movements. We bring color to the blank pages of the ordinary days and smiles to the serious faces of the overly serious reality. Also, remember to find your challenge in dance or whatever other parts of life and work to face it. You will see how incredibly rewarding it is when you finally do it. Mine was a dance to a song. I know it might seem simple or small, but the joy it brings is hard to describe. All I can say is that it is also simple, but perfect.