Today I am returning to the theme of beauty, as behind the scenes ideas are marinating with myself and others on transformative leadership programmes. I’m truly enjoying developing these ideas with Alan Moore, who I wrote about earlier in “Is yours, could yours be a Beautiful Business?” , in which I referenced his book “Do/Design”, which carries the subheading “Why beauty is the key to everything”.
Beauty is elemental, beauty is inspirational, beauty inspires.
So to a story today involving a pole dancer, a DJ and Florence and the Machine. Beauty in different ways that, for a moment for me, came into a serendipitous connection.
The other night, and unusually for me, I woke in the middle of the night and felt sleepless. I opened spotify and started playing some tracks by Florence and the Machine.
While I did that, I opened instagram and then came across a video by Tasha Blank of her moving and flowing. Somehow, as she moved is was in perfect time to the track that had just come on, “Dog Days are Over”.
I suddenly felt a sense of serendipity and flow that linked three women around music, grace and power in different ways.
In order of events, then:
Back in 2011, this video found its way to me on social media.
I had never watched any pole dancing, but somehow saw this and was captivated. From a starting point of waif-like femininity, the artist, Jenyne Butterfly, built through her performance to a stunning display of core strength. Such power as one might see only in athletes such as male rings competitors in gymnastics, yet here in a graceful woman owning her feminity. As I said, blown away.
Now, to the next link. The track accompanying her performance was “Dog days are over” by Florence and the Machine. At that point, somehow I had never heard of Florence, but from that point on I’ve been a huge fan.
As I wrote about in “Lessons from Music – Curiosity and Growth“, Florence is an inspirational force of nature, and I loved seeing her at the Royal Festival Hall in London this past May.
So, a few years after coming across the Jenyne Butterfly performance and so also Florence and the Machine, another viral video found me, this time from DJ Tasha Blank.
Her theme was movement, and again the beauty of this struck me and I have followed her online ever since. It is simply titled “We came to dance”.
So, to that sleepless night and Tasha’s dance to the time of Dog Days are over. Try it yourself, play the instagram video loop (the second of the two in her post) on mute, while at the same time playing that Florence and the Machine track.