Anardana, Seattle, 2017 

Uzbeki, Tanovar, the several names that Helene would refer to that dance style with - I finally learned them all - or at the least became familiar with them. All this was in my eight months with Anardana. 

I was enchanted with the enigma of new music and a new dance vocabulary. I enjoyed the camaraderie of my fellow Anardana dancers—together we knew sixteen languages, together we could run the world with our myriad professions, as our favorite, Heather, would say. I marveled at the perfection and mastery of our leader Helene’s virtuosity. I was humbled with the knowledge of the many existing dance forms that represent regions with their vivid historic, political, social and geographic contexts. It was also in these meditative dances that I often forgot life’s mundane quibbles.