What Is The Shape of Your Body? * (#4)**
There were many years when, six out of seven days of the week, I would be in a room, dancing within an hour of waking. My morning ritual of moving my body to music felt holy. The fact that the movement was exactly the same each day—pliés, battement tendus, grand battement, petite battement, dévelopé, port de bras, etc.—made me feel as if I were in prayer. It was good to repeat a movement in the hope that one day my body might find its way toward making a beautiful shape. Dancing was the antidote to knowing that there was no country on this earth in which I could walk alone without fear of being attacked for nothing more than being a woman alone walking.
I wonder if a tortoise ever wishes she were a mare.
* Question from Bhanu Kapil’s The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers.
** Bhanu suggested I pick a question and answer it fives time. This is attempt #4.