The Fall BootyNox

When the seasons change, our bodies respond to the shifting environment. The way we walk and navigate space is strongly shaped by how the air feels on our skin. As your faithful Liberated Booty Coach, I am happy to advocate for your booties as the fall equinox dawns and sets many of us on the path to a crisp and cold winter. Oftentimes the Booty is the last thing on our minds as we focus on acquiring coats, hats, and shoes that can bear the frigid conditions. The Booty grows stiffer each day, not so much from the temperature dropping, but rather from the lack of attention we give the Booty after we lock it down under layers of warmth. So being proactive and sincerely booty conscious, I’ve created a special recipe of seasonally-sensitive liberated booty movements that will keep your booty activated and help you sustain your internal oven no matter what’s happening outside. Here's a brand new recipe for you to taste with your own booty...enjoy!


Recipe #56:
The Fall BootyNox

1. In a space that feels good to you, stand with your feet a little wider apart than usual. Bend the knees softly so that you can bounce gently and comfortably through your dance. Breathe in and out, allowing your body to find a home in a position that feels peaceful for you.

2. Imagine your booty is morphing from the vibrant heat of summer into the mellow coolness of autumn. What variety of shapes can you make to express this shift? What speeds, rhythms, or movement textures (choppy, smooth, tense, loose, etc.) does your booty choose to illustrate the shedding of summer into fall?

3. Try the morphing process over and over until you find your BootyNox. When you feel you’ve found the movements you love, experiment with traveling and changing levels. If you’re in another part of the world experiencing a different season, be aware of how the climate is initiating movement within you.

4. Wherever you are practice your BootyNox or create a new one. Share yours with a partner and try on someone else’s BootyNox. Record yourself dancing your BootyNox on different days and see how your booty continues to activate throughout the autumn season.

5. This is fun to do outside in your backyard or at your favorite park. Dance with the breeze, the crunch of leaves under your feet, or any other things that excite you about your surroundings. If you want to be inside, play your favorite music or just enjoy the song of your breath. As always, there are infinite ways to make this BootyNox your own!

booty portrait by colin danville

Prepping Independence Square :: A space activation lab in the making...

Ever since the first night I rode through Port of Spain's Independence Square, I knew I wanted to host a space activation lab of some magnitude in that space. Nearly 2 months into my Trinidad dance residency, I have been doing small-scale space activations at Independence Square to test out the "laboratory." I have also written a lot about my process as it unfolds.

This poem is the second in a series of pieces about Independence Square in Port of Spain, Trinidad. This space fascinates me for so many reasons. Oftentimes after space activating somewhere close by, I go and sit here, sometimes for an hour or more, just watching the diversity of life experiences in this space, writing about it, sorting through my creative projects, dreaming up more collaborations on all levels. Independence Square is also the site for a large space activation lab that i am doing in the near future. Are you in Trinidad...If you would like to be a part of the magic, contact JOYISM! at joyism@dancejoyism.com. This lab will also be professionally documented via film & photo.



we dazzle our world
jumbled hues bleating horns
flashing halogen eyes
fads scream brightly above
popular chicken houses
the red, white, and night
swirl and bounce
on the windows
cars mingle with pedestrians
drivers steer
passages through circles
space clamors
for more

the masses mash-up
on each other
identity softens and blurs
smeared onto seasoned slabs
the opening
a muster point
for the magic made
the day spent
its dreams dissolving
discarded traces soon dangling
on the past

the noise swells
and heaves its waves
the speed splinters time
transient lime unraveling on stone benches
circuits confess complex communities
the circus spins
yet strands itself in the now
a familiar thing draped as
spectacular

dark spots in the gutter
fat rats race the curb
machetes christen the coconuts
young flesh trails the street
the night falls down
impartially
everyone is welcome
but no one is home

7:56pm
1.13.2011
east side of the cipriani statue
independence square
port of spain, trinidad & tobago


A short film from a spontaneous space activation with a 5 year-old at Independence Square

~~~~
Stay tuned to the JOYISM! blog and be a part of my dance journeys in Trinidad. Subscribe to the blog, join JOYISM!'s mailing list, "like" JOYISM! on facebook--stay connected to the dance!

Contribute! Make a donation to JOYISM!'s Trinidad dance residency at any time. Your support is always appreciated and is strengthening my ability to create dance and peaceful exchanges with communities around the world. Find out more about my program in Trinidad at www.dancejoyism.com.

Binahkaye Joy's dance journey is featured for New Years!

The New Year is off to a great start in Trinidad! I spent the first day of 2011 writing about the intimate backstory of what it has taken to manifest JOYISM!'s Trinidad dance residency, the divine evolution of my career, and much more. I was invited by Imani A. Love of the HEALING BLACK WOMANHOOD BLOG to be a part of an exciting interview series of phenomenal women doing awesome things in their careers and the world. I was honored to be the New Year 2011 featured writer.

Here's an excerpt:

"....My journey over the past few years of getting to this point has been divinely tumultuous. Everyday that I breathe in the abundant island air, I am overwhelmed with thanksgiving and awesome wonder that “I did it!” After a series of traumatic losses, seasons of depression, physical challenges that at times inhibited my ability to dance the way I wanted to, and painful “truth-ache” lessons that inevitably expanded my awareness about life and love—I can honestly say that I am here…and still coming...."

Full story at THE HEALING BLACK WOMANHOOD BLOG

~~~~
Stay tuned to the JOYISM! blog and be a part of my dance journeys in Trinidad. Subscribe to the blog, join JOYISM!'s mailing list, "like" JOYISM! on facebook--stay connected to the dance!

Contribute! Make a donation to JOYISM!'s Trinidad dance residency at any time. Your support is always appreciated and is strengthening my ability to create dance and peaceful exchanges with communities around the world. Find out more about my program in Trinidad at www.dancejoyism.com.