When all else fails, dance. That’s what I do when the world seems out of whack or wacky. When I dance, everything disappears, including myself. Unfortunately, there’s always someone there to remind me that people are watching and that I should settle down.Thanks to Marie Whitman’s NOMAC (North Miami Arts Collective), I don’t ever have to settle down again. Ever.

Ana Bolt (dancer) and Marie Whitman read during “Mother (Son)days.”

As I write this post, interdisciplinary artist Marie Whitman is literally mopping up NOMAC for tonight’s big workshop — Flow Movement. Led by master teacher Michele Kadison, humans of all ages and abilities are learning improvised dance techniques and experiencing the healing power of dance – an energy that seems to power every elementary particle in the known universe.

“’Dance’ is a funny word these days because to some it conjures up images of snazzy costumes, prima ballerinas and youngsters competing on how high they can kick on shows like “So You Think You Can Dance. BUT,” says Whitman in all caps, “the whole universe dances….moves in rhythm and flow. Our bodies were meant to move. They are designed to do so.”

I agree and disagree with Whitman’s theory that our bodies are designed to move. Maybe this is our design at birth, but something happens as we grow up: we get stiff, stuck in old patterns and rhythms that thwart the universal rhythm that (once) lived in us. “Movement of the body moves energy,” says Whitman. “It clears the mind, speaks the language of the heart…movement can be tremendously cathartic and healing. Bodies can and love to dance at any age, in any shape…if allowed the freedom to do so.”

Whitman has definitely made me feel guilty for not tapping into my universal dance rhythm. The flow seems fleeting and elusive, locked inside a knot inside my bones and muscles, but Whitman and NOMAC has a plan to awaken the universal tap shoes gathering cobwebs in our closets. “I keep reminding myself of these (universal) truths, I want to remind others and create a space (NOMAC) and offer experiences where people can explore the yumminess of the body dancing.”

Now, I’m hungry.

Ana Bolt + Pioneer Winter dance while Marie Whitman reads during “Mother (Son)days.”

Bad news, first: Flow Movement is the last workshop at NOMAC. Good news: I twisted Whitman’s arm and she’s almost agreed to hold more workshops beginning in August. (FYI: I had nothing to do with Whitman’s decision, but you can email her and convince her for the greater dance good of the community at NOMAC.)

So, what’s on the workshop agenda for August: “I am a mover and a writer so I am hoping to bring the two together in a workshop. I love the way words can create images and emotions and I love the way dance can convey what words cannot….Words can evoke an impulse in the body to move a certain way that adds power to the meaning of the language.”

The following poem, written by Whitman, expresses her thoughts on “Dance” and its potent magic:

Why Dance? by Marie Whitman

…To commune and stir Loosen the heavens Partner with Spirit We bang our feet to the land

We are soldiers leaping With bayonet legs battling Through storms we glide Through demons we slice With an army of arms We pound peace into the air

We worship and wail Wordless and wonder-full Messages moving Dances delivering

Torsos tossing secrets Hips swaying signals Heels stomping stories Shoulders singing psalms

Sometimes we slide, hunched with gashes Sometimes we twirl, spun in rapture Sometimes we soar, whirled in whispers

Hearing as we go Our shapes shifting We decode A language of Love that cannot lie Silent

Dancing intercessors Moving for fathers and sisters Moving for forests and water Moving for nations and mothers One for another…. We must move.

Convince Whitman we need more torsos tossing secrets and hip swaying workshops at NOMAC.

Information for upcoming workshops at NOMAC, NorthMiamiArts.com or contact Marie Whiteman via www.mariewhitman.org.