Dreaming of Storms

By Christine Emmert

Death in art does not mimic death in life. Anna, a retired ballerina, often dreams of destructive storms. She is trying to outrun these dreams, but it is her husband who surprises her with his own need to find art in death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Mar 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9781685620080

Christine Emmert

Christine Emmert is a writer, actress, director and educator. She holds a BA and MHA from the University of Colorado. Her work has been read/performed throughout the USA, UK, and Canada. Her commitment is to what is beautiful in this world. Presently she lives in Valley Forge, PA, with her husband, Richard, where they often collaborate on their art forms.

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About the Author

Christine Emmert is a writer, actress, director and educator.

She holds a BA and MHA from the University of Colorado. Her work has been read/performed throughout the USA, UK, and Canada. Her commitment is to what is beautiful in this world. Presently she lives in Valley Forge, PA, with her husband, Richard, where they often collaborate on their art forms.

Dedication

To my husband, Richard, who turns my attention from stormy dreams by churning out buttery sunshine days with his love.

Copyright Information ©

Christine Emmert 2023

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The story, experiences, and words are the author’s alone

Ordering Information

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Emmert, Christine

Dreaming of Storms

ISBN 9781685620073 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781685620080 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022923975

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street,33rd Floor, Suite 3302

New York, NY 10005

USA

[e-mail]

[phone]

Acknowledgment

Thank you to my son, Alexander, who has always upended my clichés with his original observations.

To Stant Litore, my first publisher, who believed in my voice.

To Natasha Conn, who shared my love of dance along with the stories of the dancers themselves.

To Henry and Hedwig Pachter who convinced me I had words to relate.

To my many friends who showed me my path through their loyalty and artwork. Especially my dearest old friends, Stephanie Cowell and Renee Cafiero.

To those in the dance who made me understand we are all dancing in our dreams in spite of storms that come.

To my sister, Barbara Casini, who shared a desire for a wider world than our childhood presented.

Prologue

The wider universe admits disturbance with tugs and pushes against the very centers of holding. I know I cannot fight these tensions. I cannot even see them, except in the realm of my dreams that toss me from galaxy to galaxy in a movement as light and playful as the burp of stars in their cosmic nurseries. Sometimes not as light and playful as burps, but propulsion both dramatic and abrupt. Ever since I was a child, I have been the victim of these ebbs and flows. In a sense, I have been forever birthing but never completely birthed. When I wake, my senses cool down from such fluctuation to the harmony that the human race tries to provide one with another.

The Aboriginals of Australia give deference to the dreaming state. They equate it fully with a state of consciousness. I too find my stormy nights as valid as my placid days. Perhaps more energies need to be exerted to pass through the heaves of sleep, but these adventures are as necessary to me as my other existence in the daylight of a world.

Storms are not just of the cosmic nature but apply as well to dreams of seas on this planet where I lay on rafts or greater vessels that are given up to the anger of the waters. As the ballerina, I was hung cloud-like in the strong arms of my partner over the raging of the life beneath.

I tell this to my doctor who smiles indulgently. She has never danced and does not understand the stage is not solid beneath the feet of the dancer but liquid and rolling. She does not understand how I have spent my life without a solid surface beneath me. She does not understand my