This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Flashmob of 1: Dancing My Way Across America

Creating public art all along our road trip to Wisconsin

Scene: A highway rest area/food pavilion somewhere outside of Youngstown, Ohio; early evening in late October.  Enter: me and my flashmobsolo idea.

It all started early in the morning as we began our road trip from Connecticut to Wisconsin.  That's 18 hours drive time each way-- if things go well :).

An hour into the trip, I had a flash of inspiration to dance in pitstops along the way.  As an offering to our fellow travelers and to the places on our path.  Let's trail a sparkly string of beautiful moments in our wake!

Find out what's happening in West Hartfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

I wanted to create joyful, heartfelt splashes of art as a gift to where we'd been, our contribution to the environmental echo, the sense of place.  Splashes that would resolve, settle, trickle and evaporate into shimmering threads in the locale's collective quilt.

DANCE WAS HERE.  And here. And here.

Find out what's happening in West Hartfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Plus, I wanted to share something with my fellow travelers, the slowly blinking swarms trudging with me into the rest areas. To rest, revive, refuel.

If you've traveled long distances, physically, mentally or emotionally, you can easily empathize with the boredom, fatigue, anxiety, disorientation we exude.  I wanted to ease some of that a smidge, too.  Art: an aromatic antidote.

So, in or near Middletown, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Youngstown and Streetsboro, Ohio, as well as our destination of Appleton, Wisconsin and random gas stations along the way, I slathered dancing on some public places.  No tickets, no fees, no warning.  All are welcome.

Oh yes, art for all.  For as wonderful as dance performances may be in traditional concert venues, with purchased tickets and seated, applauding patrons, the idea of weaving lush dancing into the  fabric of everyday life appeals to me more and more.

Why save art for a special occasion or a rainy day?  Why not right here right now, amidst the vast stretches of highway and the vending machines and the tedium?

So, smack dab in the middle of the hordes deciding among the fast food chains,  revving up the caffeine at Starbuck's, and heading to the rest rooms, I started to dance.  A little nervous at first, but quickly warming to the adventure.  (Go big or go home, baby).

I realized that having the anchor of my ocean solo as my base to improvise on would help me with any jitters.  And it provided me with something of meaning and beauty to offer in the land-bound midwest--my kinesthetic tales of the gorgeous sea.

Each "gig" was different, illuminating and fantastic.  I expected that the impromptu project might be fun and scary.  What I hadn't counted on was how deeply meaningful it would be and how much I would learn about performing, and especially about myself.

More about all of that in the next post--after I unpack and start on the mountains of laundry. Still dancing.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?