Allegra's cosmic dance
A remembrance for Allegra Fuller Snyder
I share this bit of only slightly ventilated prose.
Allegra devoted her life to understanding the most important questions
Not seeking answers, but manifestations
Places, people, and their practices
That experientially enact their timeless truths
In response to what she called the “question mark periods”
When we’re confronted with
“Who am I?
What’s my path through life?
What’s my new relationship to or identity with the community?”
Through this, dance became her metaphor and manifestation
She saw so much more than movement
It was ritual, it was honoring, it was attainment
Her dance symbol emerged from sacred contexts
Environments, patterns of relation, stories of creation
The dancer as gestalt of mind and body
Engaged in perceptual transformation
Allegra described dance as “a break from one level of reality to another,
a transformational device, shifting levels of consciousness”
She knew transformation was essential for change
By physically experiencing other levels of consciousness
The dancer becomes more than herself
Other than herself
And in the process, transforms those around her
Bridging physical and conceptual realities
Collapsing linear time
Bringing the past into the present
Through which potential futures unfold
Embodying cosmologies through movement
Beyond words, a celebration of life
Remembering the dead
By living Life to its fullest
How appropriate then
That her birth and existence
Set the conditions for the emergence of a new creation story
Of how the dance of fullerenes
Radiating from supernova
And gravitating through love
Over countless aeons
Gave birth to life itself
The microcosmic dance of transformation
Challenging assumptions
About the complex nature of space
And the eternally regenerative Universe
And we’re reminded
Through this solstice ritual of remembering
That we are all part of cosmic patterns and events
The rhythms of the seasons
And the cycles of life
One of the many gifts
Of the honor and privilege of befriending Allegra
Were her lovingly - and fiercely - offered regular reminders
That we all have responsibilities
To more than our selves
From remembering the cosmic dance of creation
To everyday acts of caring
It is up to each of us to take the initiative
To be discerning
To consciously perceive contexts
That we are so often taught to ignore
To attune to deeper meaning
And to find what needs to be done
Allegra would remind me, like so many others
Of the big picture and the ever-present moment
Seeking out the best in each of us
To prepare for the Unknown
From her own deep well of intuition
She sought worldly patterns and connections
Finding synergies, serendipities, and synchronicities
On her lifelong quest for integrity
Learning by doing
Experience and experiencing
Expanding perspectives
About meaning and significance
Identifying old ways of knowing
To inform new ways of being
Seemed to be in her blood
And definitely lives on in her spirit
Which remains with us today
As long as we dance together.
Photo credits
- Allegra visiting the Apple Design Team in Cupertino, CA, August 9, 2016.
- Allegra at a Synergetics workshop in Los Angeles, CA, October 29, 2020. Photo by David McConville.
- Allegra with Helen and Newton Harrison, UC Santa Cruz Arboretum. Photo by David McConville.
- Allegra with Dawn Danby at Autodesk Pier 9, August 14, 2016. Photo by David McConville.
- Allegra at the Society for Arts and Technology, Montreal, QC, May 24, 2015. Photo by Eva Blue.
- Allegra with Dawn Danby at Autodesk Pier 9, August 14, 2016. Photo by David McConville.
- Allegra and Rosicrucian Planetarium, August 9, 2016. Photo by David McConville.
- Allegra with Noguchi bust of Buckminster Fuller, February 19, 2016. Photo by David McConville.
- Allegra keynoting the IX Symposium at the Expo '67 Biosphere, Montreal, QC, May 20, 2015 . Photo by Sebastien Roy.