Where I'm From
Hi Cypress College Dancers! For the Spring 2023, People in Motion Dance Concert, we will be working with George Ella Lyon's poetry framework called, "Where I'm From." Please take some time to click through some of the links and videos below for inspiration.
First Day | February 3, 2023
After reviewing the links and videos, please compose your own "Where I'm From" poem! Begin each line with I am from and you can go anywhere! Take us to a memory, a feeling, the people who raised you, a moment that you wish you could change. Anything that you are willing to share in this moment. Try to write at least 8 lines of poetry. *Please consider that several of the lines in your poem may be incorporated into the sound design, if you want to! (Not required to be in this choreography).*
Once you have a working version of your poem, you may begin a piece of choreography that stems from you "Where I'm From" poem. How do you embody your poetry?
This is just a starting point for us this semester. Have fun and I will see you soon!
I am from a dragon
A mother whose back I run across
Her spine, the mountains
Her breath, the wind
I am from shutting the door behind me
Cautious of the dragon on the other side
I am from hoping for more for us
Knowing that may never be possible
I am from carrying, unraveling, grappling with
Ancestral lineages unknown
I am from healing my elders
Those who chose to survive
I reach back for them
I am from blue veins on the back of my hands
Working, weighted, strong
I am from riverbeds that run through me
An ancient earth that has given me inummerable gifts
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(Waeli's working poem, 1/30/2023)
