Thank You for 15 Years of Dance!

The Body as Prayer Sunday class in Sebastopol turns 15 today.

In September 2002, under considerable peer pressure from Michael Skelton, whose Sunday events in Los Angeles were drawing hundreds of dancers, I scheduled a series of three classes at Wischemann Hall. Basically to prove him wrong: Sebastopol ain’t LA; people have better things to do here on Sundays than dance.

The rest, as they say . . .

This morning we celebrated anew: community, commitment, and the magic created by –well, you, and the hundreds of dancers who have come and danced and gone . . . through so many changes in the Hall, the country, in us; births, deaths, weddings, breakups, fire, and high water. Do you remember that Sunday a boat was moored by the curb outside?

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Open your eyes and see the friends,

Whose hearts recognize your face as kin,

Those whose kindness watchful and near,

Encourages you to live everything here.

See the gifts the years have given,

Things your effort could never earn . . .

–John O’Donohue, A Celebration Blessing