Pelvis: Basin of Alchemy for Dancers

photo of Z by Monique Torok

My pelvis has been on a journey.  I asked her to externally rotate and lift for the better part of 20 years while I was immersed in ballet.  I didn’t know the energetic repercussions of these actions.  But I did know that I cultivated way more sexual energy than my personality was comfortable expressing at the time.  I also started having tendonitis in my feet.

Now I have no injuries, which is rare for someone who’s been dancing 30 years.  I now understand the connection of the feet and the pelvis.  I also have learned that the pelvis is a tremendous gateway to intuition and heart opening, not to mention the next generation.  I’ve worked with many sexual abuse survivors, pregnant women, midwives, sexuality educators, and I have witnessed the ability of the pelvis to alchemize wounds into ecstasy, pain into forgiveness, tension into trust.

This weekend I’m so excited to bring this work to the Theatrical Bellydance Conference!  We will be looking at the physical and energetic anatomy of the pelvis.  I am starting to call this the “psychic hokey pokey.”  Energy follows our intention!

I love sharing how the intricate muscles of the pelvis support our vital organs and weave with the same complexity as our facial muscles.  I’ve heard too often that “kegels” are about stopping the flow of urine.  But that would be akin to saying that facial expressions are like squeezing everything into a tight pucker and then releasing… and missing the nuances of happy, stunned, surprised…  We can move our tailbone, we can isolate the right and left halves of the pelvic diamond floor, we can lift and tilt our womb.  These deep gestures of the regenerative organs flood us with sensation, and sensation brings us into presence.

Our time together at the conference will be brief, as there are many incredible presenters sharing the day.  So I will be offering a longer workshop in the next coming weeks.  I’ve created this blog to gather your questions and comments so I can address them in the next workshop.