“On with the dance! let joy be unconfined; no sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet, to chase the glowing hours with flying feet.” – George Gordon

“Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is not mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself.” – Havelock Ellis

“Ballet is not technique but a way of expression that comes more closely to the inner language of man than any other.” – George Borodin

“To dance is to reach for a word that doesn’t exist, to sing the heartsong of a thousand generations, to feel the meaning of a moment in time.” – Beth Jones

“I do not know what the spirit of a philosopher could more wish to be than a good dancer. For the dance is his ideal.” – Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

“While I dance I can not judge, I can not hate, I can not separate myself from life. I can only be joyful and whole. This is why I dance.”  – Hans Bos

Hello everyone and welcome to another exciting week at Prompt Nights. Dancing is silent poetry or so they say; for it is an excellent medium of expression. When we dance, we let ourselves free from troubles, woes and all restraints. Tonight, I want each and every one of you to write a poem or prose piece about dance. Feel free to take the subject in whichever direction that you desire. Previously written work is more than welcome. For further inspiration please refer to the three wonderful poems below:

The Night Dance

by Thomas Moore

Strike the gay harp! see the moon is on high,
And, as true to her beam as the tides of the ocean,
Young hearts, when they feel the soft light of her eye,
Obey the mute call, and heave into motion.
Then, sound notes – the gayest, the lightest,
That ever took wing, when heaven look’d brightest
Again! Again!
Oh! could such heart-stirring music be heard
In that City of Statues described by romancers,
So wakening its spell, even stone would be stirr’d,
And statues themselves all start into dancers!

Why then delay, with such sounds in our ears,
And the flower of Beauty’s own garden before us –
While stars overhead leave the song of their spheres,
And, listening to ours, hang wondering o’er us?
Again, that strain! – to hear it thus sounding
Might set even Death’s cold pulses bounding –
Again! Again!
Oh, what delight when the youthful and gay
Each with eye like a sunbeam and foot like a feather,
Thus dance, like the Hours to the music of May,
And mingle sweet song and sunshine together.

Sweet Dancer

by William Butler Yeats

THE girl goes dancing there
On the leaf-sown, new-mown, smooth
Grass plot of the garden;
Escaped from bitter youth,
Escaped out of her crowd,
Or out of her black cloud.
Ah, dancer, ah, sweet dancer.!

If strange men come from the house
To lead her away, do not say
That she is happy being crazy;
Lead them gently astray;
Let her finish her dance,
Let her finish her dance.
Ah, dancer, ah, sweet dancer.!

Latin & Soul

by Victor Hernandez Cruz

some waves
a wave of now
a trombone speaking to you
a piano is trying to break a molecule
is trying to lift the stage into orbit
around the red spotlights

a shadow
the shadows of dancers
dancers they are dancing falling
out that space made for dancing

they should dance
on the tables they should
dance inside of their drinks
they should dance on the
ceiling they should dance/dance

thru universes
leaning-moving
we are traveling

where are we going
if we only knew

with this rhythm with
this banging with fire
with this all this O
my god i wonder where are
we going
sink into a room full of laughter
full of happiness full of life
those dancers
the dancers
are clapping their hands
stomping their feet

hold back them tears
all those sentimental stories
cooked uptown if you can hold it for after

we are going
away-away-away
beyond these wooden tables
beyond these red lights
beyond these rugs & paper
walls beyond way past
i mean way past them clouds
over the buildings over the
rivers over towns over cities
like on rails but faster like
a train but smoother
away past stars
bursting with drums.

a sudden misunderstanding
a cloud
full of grayness
a body thru a store window
a hand reaching
into the back
pocket
a scream
a piano is talking to you
thru all this
why don’t you answer it.

So pick up a pen and lets begin! As always the prompt will remain open the entire week so that everyone can write according to their own pace and time. Please click on the blue widget below. When it opens be sure to click on “add your link.” Now skip the blanks and proceed directly to “try here” written at the end in small font. It will direct you on how to link your poem. Please visit other Poets and do comment on their poems. Have fun ❤