At long last we are here, standing in front of the bright orange doors of the Casa SoMovimento dance studio in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. Here comes the class I have thought about for so long, the class led by the honorable Vera Passos.
Vera’s reputation is a formidable one: She teaches dances that integrate the symbology of the orixas — divine beings who rose from the ancestors. I learned a tiny bit about the orixas more than a decade ago at Esalen, the retreat center in Big Sur, California. Catherine Calderon taught a seminar there about these gods and goddesses from the Yoruba tradition in West Africa, and how they traveled to Cuba as spirits inside the enslaved Black people.
Now I am ready to learn more — not just in my brain but also in my body. After imagining this moment for nearly five months, ever since I paid my deposit on this journey to Brazil, we are about to dance.
But first. SoMovimento = Somo, we are; movimento = movement, in body and in our society. Vera devotes herself to both.
A series of miracles and strokes of good fortune placed me here in this studio, where I get to move with Vera and with my brothers and sisters, as the drummers play and shout. We’re up high, on the second floor of the building, where the cool wind flows freely through the wide open windows.
Vera, I soon learn, is a teacher who turns each dance class into a wisdom-sharing, an epiphany. Here is a list of the movements we practice inside the studio and apply outside.
Hold your two hands in fists, one above the other, in front of your rib cage. This symbolizes the duality of our lives: light and dark. It is possible to hold these dualities and move with them.
Sense the earth’s energy in your feet, and feel it moving upward through your body. Let the entire sole of each foot connect with the ground.
Dress yourself in the energy of water. Feel its coolness and nourishment, in your body and in your mind. This is the spirit of Oshun, the orixa of sweet water.
Prepare. Vera repeats this before beginning each dance step. Be still. Prepare. Rather than hurrying headlong into the pattern, find a sense of peace in your chest, arms, legs and hips.
Make a sweeping motion with your arms: Clear away the clutter you don’t need, as you move from side to side across the space.
Go into the forest and cut your firewood, your fuel, to stay warm and strong. Chop with your hands and forearms. Move right to left, left to right, cutting the wood. This is the orixa Xango’s movement, building the fire that keeps us alive.
Xango. image by Liliana Ostrovsky Move with joy! Don’t look so serious! Step and glide and let your feet be light!
After class, Vera sits on the floor of the studio with her longtime student, friend and fellow studio owner Aileen beside her.
Vera and Aileen. photo by Kaye Brundidge Vera speaks about the dancers who go out and perform on stages in Brazil and elsewhere.
“They think they are alone,” she says. Then Vera turns her head from side to side. Her long braids, each ending in a spear point, move behind her. They had freed themselves durimg the dance class from the knot Vera had tied behind her head.
When we dance, we are not alone: This is Vera’s point. The orixas, our ancestors, dance with us.
photo courtesy of Vera Passos For information about Casa SoMovimento, please visit the website.
Diane, I love this so much. The symbolism of the movement is so beautiful. "Be still, prepare." What a sacred journey you've been on!