Dance Commune

The Dance Commune has changed a lot over the last month or so.  It started in March (so several months I suppose) when Stryder came to stay. He’s a dance nomad, he travels around the world teaching and performing and was between gigs in somewhere and somewhere else, he stayed on our couch.

Just in case you’re interested, that makes the total number of people in the house 6. Duc, myself, Donny, Kassi, Stryder and Bryan.

Then, Lee, who is on the dance team and in graduate school, lost the lease on her apartment.  Kassi was supposed to move home to St. Louis, so it looked like there would just be a shuffling of communers, but the reality turned out to be different.  Kassi stayed and Lee moved in.

That made 7 adults in one house with two bathrooms. It was like living in an episode of Friends.  Only without the Laughtrack. Stryder somehow, even though he added a person to the house, created space for communication.  It was odd, while he was there, we had some great philosophical conversations about dance romance. He was nice to have around.  When he left, for whatever reason, he took the group conversations with him.  We all still talked, but at a different level of intensity and within smaller groups.

Stryder went to Phoenix at the beginning of April and Kassi moved home shortly thereafter.  Then, in June, Mary moved in. Her lease was up before her ticket to Herrang Dance Camp was scheduled. 

Donny is still here, he is the constant, along with Duc and I. Its interesting having all different kinds of people here.  We are all friends and we all get along, but there hasn’t been any kind of ‘commune building’ like I imagine might have happened in the communes of the 60s. No group meetings, or forced togetherness at mealtimes.  We did eat together and even cook together sometimes, but not a schedule.

In a way, it reminds of a poorly run classroom.  There are rules (loosely defined and really unarticulated) and there are expectations (that are more understood than explained) and there are dependencies.  Often there are misunderstandings and I am certain that there are resentments that hide just beneath everyone’s surfaces. 

I wonder if things would be different if we had those meetings and forced togetherness…like one has in a well run classroom.

Anyway, Lee and Bryan have moved into a condo in Downtown Dallas and Mary just left for Herrang. Donny is talking about moving in with friends before the fall term starts.

I feel like an empty-nester having never had kids of my own. It’s odd.