When I picked up my daughter from school yesterday she was on a mission.
She was on a tear about the country of Thailand.  She wanted to cook Thai food and learn as much as she could about Thailand (well, at least “10 things”) for a special class at school the next day.

Yes:  A school project within my wheelhouse!  I lived in Esan, a northeast region of Thailand for about two and a half years.  But that’s now more than 20 years ago.

When we returned home I approached the nether regions of the basement and found boxes still sealed from our move to Omaha or maybe even a previous move.  Today I’m still sneezing—my dust allergies fatally triggered.  But the rest of me is at peace.  I found my Thai stuff, including Thai dance tapes.

Who knows how tapes made in a somewhat remote region might last across time.  Who knows if I have a tape player that is still operational somewhere in the house.
But these unlikely scenarios collided and Esan music poured into our living room last night.  And I still remember some Thai dance moves…Esan style.

Make a lotus bud shape between thumb and forefinger.  Let those wrists elegantly twirl.  Keep your center steady.  Extend those fingers.  Feet bare, let them balance or follow the movement of your arms.  Then, shoot one arm out and shake your wrist as though shaking a sheave of sticky rice.

Esan music is rhythmic and hypnotic.  One of the instruments – a bonglang was my province’s (Kalasin’s) symbol.  I showed my daughter how to play the souvenir bonglang and we tried to get a sound out of a souvenir “kan.”  But mostly we danced, both before and after our Lent church service (and some during).

Today I woke up thinking, hmm, I slept sweetly last night, why so?  Then I remembered:  all that Thai dancing.  Later a world-wide Valentine’s Day movement that protests violence against women came to mind.  I remembered how dance is a part of it.   Dance provides healing after trauma.  Somehow I think dancing gave me extra calm and peaceful sleep.

Now, women’s movements, dance…that can make some of our “flaky” alarms go off (like an allergy?).  This might be beyond our comfort zone.  But I’ve got to tell you, still later this morning I unexpectedly came across this phrase from Psalm 30:11 –
“You have turned my mourning into dancing …and clothed me with joy…”
I alerted and knew I had learned something.  Dance truly has the mystery of peace and healing within it.
If you have any dance stories I hope you’ll email me back.  sarah@discoverypc.org
Blessings, Pastor Sarah Dickinson
Photo:  Thai souvenirs—bonglong, kan, sticky rice basket on Esan cloth