somatics – audrey di mola – folkloric futurism

nancy spero mosaic, 66th st – lincoln center

hello friends— i write to wish you well and to share with you these latest phases of my journey, and to invite you to come along for the directions my crooked path is taking me, if you are so inclined.

** after 5 wild and wily years as director of public programs, i was released by the land and i left my full-time job at socrates sculpture park last summer. i tatted hermetic wings on my ankles and spent most of the summer in england before coming back, experiencing initiation and ceremony with a community in colorado that blew my head off, and Here We Are, now. Here.

** my work is currently Teaching Me What It Is. folkloric futurism is the name that came to me some time ago– because working with the old stories, old wisdom, paradoxically helps create the future (by being Present in the Present). earth and story saved my life, so i’m traveling where They lead. traversing my mental health crisis/spiritual emergence and suicidality from 2015-2019 was nothing short of mythic, and it has been the ground i’ve stood firmly on ever since. i want to continue learning and teaching– as a singer, teller, dancer, and Listener, and bring my own firebrand of myth-inspired earth-centered embodied learning to the world.

this work weaves:

the old stories and the oral tradition. the earth. embodied creative experiences. explorations of inner and outer wilderness. mythologies of personhood and place. the body as oracle. holding paradox. associativity/leaping consciousness. deep listening.

you can find all of my current offerings on this page of my website HERE, including 1-on-1 legend sessions and storytelling in the oral tradition. if there is a way to work with you or your org or community, please let me know.

beginnings, with a beautiful quote from ‘for the wild’ podcast.

** co-founding the site-specific environmental art and stewardship project, kin to the cove and supporting/organizing for sarah cameron sunde’s 36.5 / a durational performance with the sea have been both my healing flowing waters and my anchor. the project culminates this year in sept and has been a space to deepen and play on the queens waterfront.

** by the grace of multiple good fortunes i’m working with the life partner of one of my greatest mythtelling heroes, daniel deardorff, who passed into the ancestral realm in 2019. daniel is a huge influence on my telling and teaching; i’ll be helping run future events for the mythsinger legacy project including monthly story-nights (email for the link!).

** i’ll be leading an online moving through myth – the way out is in session to benefit the qoya community/wiracocha foundation’s fundraiser for the weaving women of the q’ero, this coming tuesday march 15 6:30-8pm EST. your donation HERE will get you a link to my session as well as all the other free offerings from the qoya community this month.

The old stories carry ancient earthen energies that can help us move with and through the trouble and mystery of our lives. In this “The Way Out Is In” session Audrey will guide participants through a gathering of chosen stories around a virtual hearth-fire, that we will then “feed” and share from. Where do we find ourselves in the story? What announced itself in our bodies to tell us that? From there, we will dip into visualization/meditation or free movement/embodiment exercises to walk through our own internal legendary wilderness. Nothing is needed besides space to hear, listen, and feel.

They talk of the triumph of the machine,
but the machine will never triumph.
Out of the thousands and thousands of centuries of man
the unrolling of ferns, white tongues of the acanthus lapping at the sun,
for one sad century
machines have triumphed, rolled us hither and thither,
shaking the lark’s nest till the eggs have broken.
Shaken the marshes, till the geese have gone
and the wild swans flown away singing the swan-song at us.
Hard, hard on the earth the machines are rolling,
but through some hearts they will never roll.
— d.h. lawrence.

i appreciate these opportunities to share my work, to be in this absolutely quizzical After-Life from full-time event curation and dancing the mandorlas of the great unknown. my artist self– which is also my creature self– is leading this time; and it’s been said that our second half of life, our (chosen) second adulthood– is soul-led, not ego/mind-led…

i’m writhing in bed with the Good Trouble, rediscovering both restlessness and pleasure; i’d be lying if i said i could tell you exactly what that meant.

from the wilds of the deep heart–

as ever,

me in 6th grade at medieval times, because Nothing Much Has Changed.

hello my friends–

i haven’t written to you since before all of this began. truly hoping that you and your loved ones are okay– that you are finding joy and lightness in this– that you are protecting yourself with love from all the fear-mongering, being led by evolution into alternate and higher states of consciousness and healing.. we are IN THIS, aren’t we? here. we. are. please reach out if you want to chat, zoom, so on and so forth. i am doing my best to be Here, first and foremost for mySelf {self-care is essential and 250% valid– please remember this..}.

most immediately i wanted to share with you– that we are presenting the mystical and ritualistic theatrical offering, “A PASSION” by DZIECI live on YOUTUBE LIVE tonight (april 10) at 8pm as we usually do in person– in time for easter and passover.

working with this company since last year has been transformative and life-changing– and being a direct part of how they have “accepted the conditions” and adapted such a physical play full of presence to the virtual medium we have at our disposal– has been exhausting, revelatory, precious, frustrating, and full of inherent truth.

{edit from the FUTURE, you can watch it HERE!}

“Taking ‘The Passion According to St. Matthew’ as a starting point, Dzieci researched early translations of the text, relying heavily on the Aramaic Pashita, and incorporated Hebraic song and chant and ritual elements of Judaism to craft a work that would appeal to the human spirit in everyone.

This delicate and communal piece was originally crafted with choral singing, dance, and ritual movement. It has now been re-envisioned for another medium. Though separated in body, may we remain together in spirit.”

i have also been directed to Speak Plainly about Extraordinary Things.
to stand more fully in my Truth of Being as messenger, alchemist, bridge-walker, spirit-talker, storyteller-seer.

i shared this last night on instagram {after 4 hours of dzieci rehearsal in the dark on the floor in my bathroom ;) #accepttheconditions}:

#realism
today during my somatic session i heard my {brilliantly intuitive} practitioner reflect this seemingly innocuous sentence to me: ‘this feels too good, i can’t stay here’ — but without warning, immediately, tears sprang to my eyes, i turned away + my body locked up tight into defensive crunch.
i couldn’t believe how quickly + how deeply the nerve was pressed.
and there it was.
the dichotomy, stark– and i got to be with mySelf, and lead mySelf through it. without forcing, without pushing, without jargoning/analyzing to death inside my mind.
just by Being. With.

it’s difficult for me to face the idea that my time as Wildfire is over. this was the name that resurrected me, that pointed me in direction of my purpose.
but i have lived enough days burning my way through things.
the fire that i feel now is Honed. Gentle. Focused.
the fire, the heat– channeled, directed– into another kind of self-generated alchemical fuel.

i have been given New Names– perhaps as bastian was directed in the neverending story, to give the childlike empress her New Name + recreate fantastica in his own unique way.

the faeries gave me NOVA.🌟
and last night in my dreams, i was given Linnéa,🌼 ringing in my ears as i awoke. subsequently not surprised to understand its link to my beloved linden– grandfather tree– its flower and leaf i have tattooed on my forearm beneath ‘A Prayer To See + Be Seen.’ i have been wild for so long. forceful. erratic. stubborn. cavalier.
but i am not afraid to be gentle.
i am not afraid to be good.
i am not afraid to move with peace, have peace, Be Peace.

may i grow– towards new stars✨ and with deeper roots🌱– as holy New Destinies shape themselves inside me […] 💎

***

this is a Moment to Stand Fully, and Truly As We Are.
surely, the truth of our lives, and the life of humanity Itself, depends on It.
what is the message held in the truth of your life, and are you allowing yourself to express it?
this time is as right and as true as any– in fact, perhaps so much truer.

wishing you and your beloveds safe travels in these strange times.

loving always,

audrey
{NOVA Linnéa}

here also is a new PRAYER POEM i wrote called “the body is a prayer for beginning,” debuted live this past february for borne dance company‘s eating disorder/mental health awareness event :)