Peace in the Storm

“The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It’s our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.”

― Brené Brown

On the darkest of days, during the chaos and tumult of a fierce maelstrom, can you remember that the sun is still there lying deep in the shadows ready to illuminate the day? The light remains and the storm will pass. You know this. You know that there is an end to this moment and to every experience.

But what if you don’t just wait for the dark moment to pass? What if you decide to dance your way through it? Can you do it? Can you stare the stark brittle wind in the face and smile? Maybe somedays you can’t. Maybe somedays the dark is a spell you cannot break. But subtly, or sometimes blatantly, a glimmer breaks through. A friend stops over. A character in a novel or film resonates so perfectly true - there is another that has felt the same as you. You laugh a little - or full heartedly! You remember how the darkness has gripped you before and that it’s only one piece of the great circle of time - that it too shares space with light and can’t hold on forever. You hear a song - a brilliant song - and you stand up and stretch and start to move your weary bones. You decide to keep moving. You decide that perhaps the very best you can do is to let go of fear and to dance your way though even the worst of the storms.

To understand the transient nature of life and that hard moments and even long, painful periods of time will pass, this is what it is to be wise and resilient. But to dance your way through the turbulent tides of life, this is peace.

Written by: Keith Sutter and Devin Copeland

The Empathy Series

In a world plagued by continued chaos, empathy - one of our species’ most important survival techniques and one of humanity’s finest traits - is more important than ever.

Although we’re all individuals with unique struggles and experiences, our human ability to relate to one another's battles, and our willingness to respond to these hardships with action and understanding, could be our greatest solace in life, as well as our biggest hope for a bright future.

Within this series, each environment intends to inspire an existential question in regards to empathy, while each dancer’s reaction comments on one of our many shared emotions. My interest lies in the dark and light nature of the universe and our relationship to those forces - especially in terms of how we face them alone and together.

“Empathy is... communicating that incredibly healing message of, ‘You’re not alone.’”
― Brené Brown