Strength in Length: Poetry and Playlist

A few people asked me about the routine and the music I used on Wednesday and Friday this week for the Strength in Length focus.  Debbie Rosas, one of Nia’s co-founders, created a routine years ago called Mystere that used all music from the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name.  I took nuggets of Debbie’s choreography and most of the playlist and created my own “tweaked” version of the routine that I call The Mystery.  The music is full of magic and unexpected delights:

Égypte – 4:28 – Cirque du Soleil, Mystere

Rumeurs – 10:09 – Cirque du Soleil, Mystere

Caravena – 5:14 – Cirque du Soleil, Mystere

Kunya Sobé   – 5:20 – Cirque du Soleil, Mystere

En Ville – 4:59 – Cirque du Soleil, Mystere

Birimbau – 6:12 – Cirque du Soleil, Mystere

Rondo – 6:07 – Cirque du Soleil, Mystere

Taruka – 5:34 – Cirque du Soleil, Alegría

Kalimando – 6:31 – Cirque du Soleil, Mystere

Out Of The Silence – 6:22 – Aeoliah

And on Friday, I read this poem that I also promised to share (I love how vertical it is!):

Vertical by Linda Pastan

Perhaps the purpose
of leaves is to conceal
the verticality
of trees
which we notice
in December
as if for the first time:
row after row
of dark forms
yearning upwards.
And since we will be
horizontal ourselves
for so long,
let us now honor
the gods
of the vertical:
stalks of wheat
which to the ant
must seem as high
as these trees do to us,
silos and
telephone poles,
stalagmites
and skyscrapers.
But most of all
these winter oaks,
these soft-fleshed poplars,
this birch
whose bark is like
roughened skin
against which I lean
my chilled head,
not ready
to lie down.

“Vertical” by Linda Pastan, from Traveling Light. © Norton, 2010

If you have any questions about music or readings, I’m happy to share.  Just let me know!