In flatland the space is infinite. And time is infinite. As well as human kindness, malice and stupidity.

Dear readers,

For years we have been sharing steps through city streets all over the world, through the rhythms of music and records of movement on the pages of the Dance and City blog. With this text, I want to take you on a slightly different journey – where the city streets turn into an endless horizons, and the city noise into a deep, meaningful silence.

My new book “Plain Blues” is finally here.

From the Lights of the Big City to the Whispers of the Flatland

The main character of this story decides what many of us sometimes (maybe even often) wish: she leaves the hustle and bustle of the big city and moves to a small place in the heart of the flatland at the north of Serbia. But this is not just a story about a change of an address. This is the story of a search for answers that cannot be heard over sirens and rushing footsteps in the big city.

The move is not only spatial, but also internal – from one rhythm of life to another, from one self-image to a new, unknown one. A plain, quiet and wide, it is not just a landscape; it is a flatland, with endless horizons. It is a space for new questions and reflections: about belonging, staying, leaving.

“Andja strove to constantly change her perspective and attitude. It was a challenge to gain life’s wisdom.”

Encounters that change the Rhythm

Through the dusty spaces of the flatland horizons and peaceful courtyards, the main character gets to know destinies that pulsate stronger than the city. Those characters carry messages about:

• The meaning and meaninglessness of our daily races
• Sufferings and joys that are universal, regardless of zip code
• Life and death as natural cycles that are more clearly visible in the plains

Who is This Book for?

This is an invitation to dance for everyone who left a part of their heart in the flatland, for those who left it and for those who have yet to feel its irresistible rhythm. For those who know what the silence of the field sounds like, and for those who are yet to learn it. For all of us looking for answers to questions on meaning, life, death and other significant topics.

The book will soon be available in Vulkan (maybe also DELFI) bookstores in Serbia.

In Serbian: Slađana Milošević – Ravničarski bluz – Konkursi regiona

Bel.grade city promotion of the book “Plain Blues” was held in @kucaumetnica with two hours of escape from reality, with stories, questions, smiles, hugs, and lots of love.❤️

Slađana Milošević is the creator of small art installations “SM.ART” inspired by the beauty of flowers, nature and small things around us that we often don’t notice.

She is the author of the concept “SMisao“, reflection on life and meaning, in the form of short stories, songs and music, which she started working on after studying logotherapy.

He writes and publishes in Serbian and English.

He lives at a safe distance from the big city, with an unmarried wife, Tornjak dogs, trees and various flowers.

More information about the book can be obtained via email: sladja.milosevic@gmail.com

Photos: Nikola Bogdanović

Članak A Story about Flatland, Silence and New Beginnings se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.

PAINTING AND DANCE

Wassily Kandinsky “The Dance Curves” from 1926.

You can see more about this piece here.

THE DANCE CURE

The new book “The Dance Cure” by Dr. Peter Lovatt.

You can follow Peter on Instagram.

The book reveals the surprisingly positive cognitive and emotional benefits of dancing and how you can become happy by dancing. The book can be ordered here.

PREHISTORIC DANCERS

The discovery of Bhimbetka was a great milestone in Indian archaeology as scientists found various evidences starting from Stone Age in BC 30,000 to 1 century BC. However, the most famous out of them is the dancing figures. There are also numerous paintings featuring various animals, scenes from hunting and social rituals. Due to its archaeological significance, UNESCO declared Bhimbetka as a World Heritage Site.

We wish you all playful, happy and meaningful 2025!

SOURCES:

Wassily Kandinsky – Wikipedia

Wassily Kandinsky Dance Curves :: Behance

https://www.instagram.com/drpeterlovatt/

The Dance Cure: The Surprising Science to Being Smarter, Stronger, Happier: Lovatt, Peter: 9780063046887: Amazon.com: Books

Prehistoric cave paintings of Bhimbetka

Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka – Documents – UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Članak At The End of 2024… PAINTING AND DANCE se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.

“Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.

                                                                                                                                                                   Dr Viktor Frankl

                                                                                                       Author of bestseller „Man’s Search for Meaning”

For some time, for the end of this year, I have wanted to write something for Ples i Grad, which could have a place on our blog, but also in the Pravo i Zdravo section (this part is only in Serbian language).

Unfortunately, the news appeared that belongs to both section of our web site. News with a very important message.

A well-known DJ, dancer and producer Stephen “tWitch” Boss committed suicide. Just three days after celebrating his wedding anniversary with his wife, Allison Holker, also a dancer. The couple often posts videos together on TikTok and Instagram and has a large following. They released a dance video together just two days before his death!

tWitch and his wife, both dancers who appeared on the competition series “So You Think You Can Dance?” and “Dancing with the Stars.” He was also DJ in famous TV show of Ellen DeGeneres. The couple married in 2013 and marked their ninth wedding anniversary this week. They share three children. Obviously, he was a very successful and famous. Apparently, nothing has indicated that he is going to take his own life.

This also can be said for many famous people who committed suicide: Sylvia Plath, Ernest Hemingway, Robin Williams and many more others.

On World Suicide Prevention Day, the World Health Organization warns that around one million people take their own lives every year. In Serbia, the number is quite frightening and statistics say that around 1,500 people commit suicide every year. (source: prevencija samoubistva – Žena.rs (blic.rs).

Look up for telephone numbers where you can reach for help in your own country (data for Serbia are given in Serbian text on this blog).

Take care of yourself and your loved ones, that’s our message for the end of 2022!

“The truth—that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire“ Viktor Frankl.

Sources:

Viktor Frankl – Wikipedia

Man’s Search for Meaning – Wikipedia

Stephen “tWitch” Boss – Wikipedia

Stephen “tWitch” Boss, dancer and “Ellen” show DJ, dead at 40 – CBS News

List Of Famous People Who Committed Suicide (thefamouspeople.com)

Za Tebe #VAZNOJE | Facebook

Sve je OK

Photo: Unsplash.com

Članak FOR THE END OF 2022… se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.

Logotherapy is the third Viennese school of psychotherapy created by Dr. Viktor Frankl.

University professor, Dr. Viktor Emil Frankl neurologist, psychiatrist, founder of logotherapy and existential analysis, was born on March 26, 1905 in Vienna, and died on September 2, 1997 in Vienna.

In professional circles, Logotherapy and Existential Analysis is known as the Third Vienna School of Psychotherapy. The First School is the Psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, and the Second is the School of Individual Psychology by Alfred Adler.

Viktor Frankl’s life and work were basically marked by personal experience of suffering, surviving the horrors of the Second World War in four Nazi concentration camps. After the release, he weighed only 38 kilograms. He lost his first wife (and child), brother, parents and most of his friends in the Nazi regime. After returning to Vienna, he found himself in complete nothingness. However, instead of despair, the will to live awoke in him, the irresistible need to turn the suffering he experienced into an experience of meaning. The painful experience was a turning point in the life of a young and promising doctor and confirmed to him, once and for all, that the basic driver of human life is his search for meaning. Frankl built logotherapy on the depths of his knowledge, which were not only theoretical, but the result of his life experiences: to find the path to light, to meaning through hell. (translated and adapted from the site: www.logoterapija.com)

Frankl is the author of numerous notable professional books. He has written 32 books, and his works have been translated into 32 languages and sold in millions of copies. Only one of his books “Man’s Search for Meaning” has been sold in more than ten million copies.

Viktor Frankl’s dance is choreographed by Falkner Discher, who was delighted with Frankl’s book “Man’s Search for Meaning” “. You can watch the dance here. Falkner is a professional Independent Contributing Artist for Ballet Embodied and the Instructor for The Dance Conservatory at St. Paul’s School and Underground Dance Academy.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4Oeo1p6mUY&t=136s

https://falknerdischer.com/

https://themeandintention.com/

https://www.instagram.com/falknerdischer/

www.logoterapija.com

Photo: Pexels.com/cottonbro

Članak Viktor Frankl dance se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.

Aikido is a modern martial art. But aikido doesn’t look like a “fight” at all, it looks more like a dance. This is because aikido uses opponent’s energy timely, in order to end the “conflict” so that none of the participants actually get hurt (no bad karma!). (You can see the demonstration of aikido “fight” here).

Logotherapy, on the other hand, is the so-called “third school of psychotherapy”, that teaches us about the power of meaning. We have free will, and we can find meaning in activities, experiences and suffering. Logotherapy was “developed” by Dr. Viktor Frankl, a Viennese doctor, neurologist and psychiatrist, who survived four concentration camps during the Second World War! His book “Man Search for Meaning” should certainly be read.

Now you must be wondering what is the connection between aikido, dance and logotherapy? I don’t know pricesly, but I feel it exists. And I received confirmation of that almost from a colleague from Zagreb, who is a logotherapist and is doing a doctorate on the topic of the connection between movement and logotherapy (http://www.vida.com.hr/kineziologija/). Also, my fellow student of logotherapy, who has PhD in physics and is from Japan, was fascinated with an idea as he used to train kendo since he was little!

Well, here I will briefly try to explain for this blog what connection I found between logotherapy and movement (dance, aikido).

As I said, activities, experiences and suffering can give meaning to life. Movement, dancing is an activity but certainly a wonderful experience, isn’t it? Movement, with music, the company of other people… meaning.

Besides, when we dance it is not just us enjoying. With us, someone else enjoys dancing, the onces dancing with us or watchcing. So dancing is not really just an activity for our-selves, but for those who participate in the dance with us, as well as those for whom we are in better mood after the dance. This certainly fits into the basic settings of logotherapy, which says that you should always do something for others, not just for yourself. (Self-transcendence, “coming out of oneself”). It also makes sense.

Besides, I think that the movement, just like logotherapy, “believes” in the best in each of us. And if you start dancing angry, do you have a chance to end the dance like that?

Also, I think that movement as well as logotherapy basically believe in love and that it is the most important. Because, when we dance we love: ourselves, others, the world…

I will write more about it, still need to think and connect things… 😊

It will be done easier with some dancing 😉

Članak Dancing and logotherapy se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.