Snake Dance

SNAKE DANCE

When walking down the trail or sitting on a rock, lost in a world of far away thoughts (or none at all) and Rattlesnake buzzes from under one's feet, one is impelled to do an impromptu "Snake Dance." The best and most proper Snake Dance is always performed with spontaneity and the immediacy of a life preserving adrenaline shot, right through the heart, and would have the dancer's heels well above his or her ears with arms flailing, possessions flying in all the sacred directions of the compass, accompanied by great simultaneous vertical and left lateral leap, whilst shrieking out Parsel Tongue Praises to the herpephobe in all… Which may or may not be perceived as extremely undignified! The dance is usually done early in the morning as the work day is getting started and the residual adrenaline high will last well into the late afternoon, wherein, if one is truly blessed it will happen again on the way back to the truck. After the initial Snake Dance has been completed, anything that moves, rustles, or rattles the rest of the day will cause a spastic celebratory re-creation of the original dance, much to the amusement of one's partner, colleague or dog.

Snake Dancing in the wintertime is performed on snow covered mountaintop and is much more graceful and pleasing to the mind, spirit and soul of the performer. The winter Snake Dance also leaves beautiful sinuous tracks down the mountainside, both pleasing to the eye and aesthetic to one’s sense of well being with Mother Nature.

Thus, Snake Dance, a ritual I perform with some regularity, a life style... my Life’s Style. Celebrate the Khundalini within. I call my humble little abode (no, not adobe) Snake Dance Ranch. My sculpture attempts to celebrate the spontaneity the Snake Dance gives.

JD Slayton
May 25, 2005

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