When I was little, up until I was in high school, I danced to the beat of a different drummer. Remember that film, White Men Can't Jump? Well this half Jewish half Black girl; that's what we were called when I was a kid, now referred to as African American; couldn't dance her way out of a paper bag. Mind you, I began working professionally, as a choreographer, when I was eight years old. I was in third grade attending Saint Andrews Elementary, and these girls who attended the attached all girl high school, heard about me, and hired me to choreograph a dance number for them for their talent show. I had an uncanny ability to see every aspect of the piece; the music, the costume, how the hair would flow, utilizing all the elements of dance; time, space and energy, variations, level changes and intra-spacial concepts. Most of my friends thought me strange indeed, because, although I could choreograph, I could not dance. I remember the day I ran to my sister Ri R, crying and lamenting because they, my brother and sister, were making fun of me and calling me names, like, Casper, Honkey, Whitey, red neck, because I didn't dance like them. Below are excerpts from The ORACLE Speaks … just because which explain Why I Dance in the face of adversity and despair.

*Scroll down for the newest installment of The ORACLE Presents Ten Pages of Nothing But The Truth, VOL 1, Truth #5

Excerpts from The Oracle speaks... just because

"my sister Bessie Maria Lyles had muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy. She never walked a day in her life. As a child I danced to the beat of a different drummer. My sister taught me how to dance while sitting in her bed. She would say, “hold on to the door knob. Now, bend your knees, snap your fingers.” Ri Ri taught me to marvel at being able to use my feet, stand on my two legs and dance for joy. I dance forevermore in her name. pg. 125

She Danced With G-d PG. 124

Shut the Buck up Fitch. That’s what she’d say, if she liked you. She judged each spirit by the spirit. She taught me how to dance though she never walked a day in her life and she danced with G-d.

He took her by the hand and counted out a beat. They sachet’ed and twirled and turned about. Skipping and leaping in and out of love and supreme joy. She never walked a day in her life and she danced with    G-d.

Blessed with a profound sense of insight and a  knowledge of a world seen only from her bedside view. A prisoner to the limitations of her frail frame. She lived the life of freedom of spirit and pure love. She never walked a day in her life and she danced with G-d.

Of love, of life, of miracles, each person she touched became a champion of her cause, each person she cursed out grew to accept her unconditional love, her blind innocence and full heart for giving all that she had inside to give. She never walked a day in her life and she danced with G-d.

Bessie Maria Lyles taught me to look beyond the severe, oft times hurtful, painful and unfair tricks of life, and to look to the treats hidden within reach, in plain understanding.

She taught me to care beyond my own wants and needs, she taught me to listen to the voice of G-d and to hear what I was meant to hear. She taught me the virtue of patience and the necessity of sight from the others point of view. She taught me to love completely free of fear and distrust. She taught me so much. Most of all, she taught me to dance though she never walked a day in her life, and she danced with G-d.

DANCE

Dance with your G-d, with yourself

and with all those you consider family and friends.

Dance as if nobody’s watching. Dance in praise and

honor of G-d and all that brings you joy. Dance as

if your life depended on it.

Dance with the spirit of the universe in a way that

belies the laws of nature. Dance in flight, on the

ground and in the depths of the oceans of your

tears. Dance with abandonment, dance with no fear.

Learn to dance each unknown step, each

unrehearsed turn of life's tango, cha cha, fox trot,

crump or cheer. No feet required, no rhythm

necessary when you dance from the heart. Just

dance because you can.