the other interesting thing abt taking dance classes is that I get to experience the blessing of being around girls and women. it’s almost like a second home – no, more like a refuge. from the patriarchal world.
From sprightly elementary school girls to gentle women in their winter years, each room is occupied and warmly colored with feminine energy, the magnitude of which I can’t remember the last time I experienced.
I’ve only seen one man-seeming person here. it was not a technique class like many of the others. Other than that one person, the establishment seems to be primarily women-owned and operated.
With feelings of refuge also come feelings of belonging, even if by a stretch:
even people of different ethnic, historical, cultural (etc) backgrounds from the same ruined or war-torn regions, if they are refugees, will often apprehend their connexion like a fine golden thread through piles of ash, and bond on this basis alone. when the world outside this secret one becomes hostile and\or uninhabitable, the parameters of our ey3s is modified to seek belonging, protection, safety and stability.
I feel part of the Great Sisterhood, yet cannot ascertain my place. Perhaps it is merely a matter of having to live in between worlds, and learning not to resent this invisible abode. In the world of Men, there is only a crumbling statue, an image or effigy where a son was expected to be. And I can never return to that vicinity.