People’s Prizewinner

at The Royal Commonwealth Society Arts Exhibition,

Bath, 2020

“When you have had your sunrise

It will come along to me

And in the commonlight we will share the water

And the air and all the colours of the world.

Although your music is another tongue to mine

And your food is another poetry

And I do not always understand the things you do,

Friendship despites all those sorts of things.

So we can make a commondance

With our own free rhythms

And you can teach me your steps

And your decorations.

And when I close my email with an X

You should know

That I am sending you a kiss.”

c. M Elphick 2020

Dance communicates feelings, moods, impulses. 

It needs no funding or equipment, no language, metaphor or symbolism. 

It is not thinking. 

It can be done anywhere by anyone and everyone understands it. 

It can be free or restrained, solitary or communal, joyous or sad. 

You can dance with a lover or your mother or someone you had never met. 

It is a wealth that is truly common.

Signing off with an ‘x’ began in Britain hundreds of years ago, though the meaning has changed. People in other countries, especially non-Commonwealth countries, often do not understand that this written kiss can be a sign of anything from cool friendship to passionate love; between men and women or women and women and (gosh) even between men and men and can be sedate or sexy, sincere or sarcastic.