Dance for Four Women

Wrapped
In conception
In primordial
Expectations

Before I am born

The path is traced
Through my foremothers
They map out the way

“Woman -
You will be
One of us

“Wife
Mother
Whore”


In the womb I struggle
Against the voices

In my sweet pool I dance
With dreams

I grow with promises
I grow with dreams

My being unfolding
Like newly formed wings

Harshly ejected
I hit the strictures

I hit the boundaries
Running
To keep up with
The needs
Of being

A good girl

A sweet girl
One who does as she’s told

Who helps others

Who puts herself last


But the promises
That fluttered in the womb
Were real

I feel them
I feel the tentative wings
In the moments
Between dreams

I cannot forget them

Woman
Becoming

Woman

Becoming

But the foremothers say

“No! Women are caregivers
To others -
Not to selves!

“Women are the backdrop
For the lives of others -

“For the children

“For men

“For the greater good…”

But the dreams of the womb
Cannot leave me

The promise of dancing
To my own rhythm

Will not die

Not for me
To be only the
Docile one…
The applauded
Soother of brows

Not for me
To be only
The nurturer of others’ lives


Sometimes I find others
Who believe
As I do

We meet
We share
And then we have to part

So I can find
My own way again

I have to be the heroine
In my own stories

I want to become
The star I follow


I want to make memories

Snap shots

Photographs

Pictures

Of my own life

Sometimes as nurturer

Sometimes as friend

But always being
What the womb promised

Finding

My own steps

My own voice

My own dance
Taking flight

TEXT FOR DANCE FOR FOUR WOMEN PERFORMED AS PART OF STEPPING OUT BY PAUL DATLEN 16th - 20th MAY 2006.