Gabriele Khoury, Kerpen, Germany
“You don’t have to understand life
– and it will be like a celebration…” (R.M. Rilke)
Is there any metaphor more suitable for our great anniversary celebration which has been created by the professional association for ´Meditation des Tanzes`on the occasion of Friedel Kloke-Eibl`s 80th birthday?
Given that at the beginning of my dancing path the urge to understand and the need to learn have been powerful driving forces – at this celebration, our celebration, everything turned out to be just a mere gift, and understanding no longer was an obligation. It was present though, but more as a changeable companion within us and arround us. Surely everybody will have sensed gratefully what we had the privilege to receive during all those years. Our festival had the capability to make sure that all these gifts could be seen, heard and felt as if they were being presented. And we could see, that many of us have learned to share these gifts and to bring them into the world. However, at the end there still is a phrase I would like to add to the poem of Rilke:
„It is not the mental movement of comprehension that offers the benefit, but being deeply moved.“ (Bernhard von Clairvaux).
May this fruit continue to nourish us in the future.