Dani Brown joined the Buddy Dancers, a local community group, shortly before her fiftieth birthday in February 2020. All of her life, she created dances in her head, and then, in her late twenties, she scored a two Musical show gig as lead choreographer. It was a good experience but a theatre-fringe experience, and no one noticed her talent. She ended up marrying a firefighter.
The marriage fulfilled her in many ways, but as she approached her fifties, she realized she had forsaken her choreography roots, and determined to reconnect, she joined the Buddy Dancers. There were two months of new pleasure, meeting other dancers at the Podi Ranch Rehearsal Barn located north of town. Then the Pandemic hit, and everything shut down. Some of the Dancing Buddy members were tech-savvy, and Zoom was introduced, but it became clear that the member majority agreed they would use the time to go inward. During that time, Dani learned the many ways she had forsaken herself. So, when the Pandemic Lockdown cleared, she reunited with her fellow Dancing Buddies to express unlocked expression, beginning with releasing long-stored guilt.
Dani bought colored scarves at thrift stores and brought them to the Rehearsal Barn on Podi Ranch north of town, where the Dance Buddies gathered. Handing them out, she said, “I dreamt last night about choreographing a piece in with scarves represent guilt, which…
