It starts in the ribs, the floating ribs to be exact. The last two pairs of lofty bone that only attach at the back of the rib cage. That is where I find movement, my movement, originates. The feeling of lift and expansiveness that starts from within the core—core consisting of the traverse abdominus, rectus abdominus, external obliques, the multifidus, and erector spinae—before radiating out of the torso and limbs. The electric currents surge from the thoracic spine in both directions, waving out beyond the skeleton and flesh into the ether, into the spaces known and unknown.
My ribs have always wanted to break away, particularly from the confines of forced alignment in codified movement forms. Let’s for a second think of my ribs cage as a lover that exists in a monogamous relationship. This relationship is being defined with the ribs contained in alignment/relationship to shoulders and pelvis. In the scenario, the core muscles are wrapping and holding the rib cage from the outside, leaving them bound and bonded to one lover. The rib cage is still mobile in this embrace, but it comes with its share of limitations. They are confined. They are moving in restricted pathways and ideas of other possibilities. They are compromised.
floatingribsinterview
The most fascinating thing about the ribs for me in this moment is that I have carried them with me all my life, and yet it was not until recently that we actually became reacquainted—like a lover that was there the whole time.