If you spot a young man dancing for hours by the Bellinger River next Friday, you might wonder what he’s up to.
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The answer is that he’s trying to get to Tasmania.
Jimmy Smith arrived in Bellingen a few months ago, after a chance meeting with a friend on the Pacific Highway who said the he might like the town.
And he did.
While he’s been here, the 25-year-old been refining his yoga practice, making new friends, and getting involved in community activities like African drumming and slacklining.
But now it’s time to move on, and his destination is well south of here.
He’s been given a grant by the Life Evolving Awakened Hearts to attend the first International School of Temple Arts retreat in Tasmania in 2019.
“A condition of the LEAH fund grant requires me to create a project that will bring my energy into the world, a project that will help to support and finance my trip to Tasmania,” Jimmy said.
And so the idea of dancing for the whole length of the longest day – the summer solstice of December 21 – was born.
Jimmy has previously tried to beat the world record for the longest continual dance (six days), and although his attempt was unsuccessful, he said it showed him the ecstatic joy of dance and movement.
“It's my hope to birth some of that feeling into a community which has held me with such loving presence over the last 10 weeks – Bellingen,” Jimmy said.
He hopes that as many folk as possible will come down to Lavenders Bridge and offer whatever support they can as he dances from sunrise at 5.37am until sunset at 7.59pm.
Whether this takes the form of money, hydration, deep tissue massage, music, hugs or simply joining in the joyous movement, Dancing Jimmy will welcome it all.