Copacabana

And any man who knows a thing knows he knows not a damn, damn thing at all

Crazy business this weekend. I'm not going to devote too much space to the tragedy that occurred here in town Saturday except to say we were waiting for our show to start backstage when several of my dance mates had to stop getting dressed, applying makeup, etc. to answer frantic phone calls/text messages from family relating the story of an incident that happened an hour prior and less than a mile from where we were. You can read more about it here. I've thought a lot about it and it frankly baffles me. I have nothing more to say.

Instead, I'll talk about a moment at the other end of the spectrum, when an obstacle was faced head on and because of the inherent goodness of the environment and those involved, it became a moment of rare beauty that will stay with this kid for a long time. My dance friends Saturday took the stage for a lovely piece that I know was a special one for the choreographer who was also in the dance. Several seconds into the 2 minute long piece, their music stopped. For a half a second, there was tension in the audience and on stage. But let me tell you, those girls, phenomenal dancers all, just kept going, kept moving, and nailed that piece with a grace and fluidity of movement that I hadn't seen from them before. It was nothing short of inspiring. I cried. It's hard to explain but there really is just a magic moment when live theater of any kind is done well. The chills start and for a minute you forget about people so deep in despair they feel the need to gun folks down at a picnic on a beautiful spring day. People who haven't done it before don't realize that dancers can't really see each other on stage, just in brief glimpses in turns and twists. But they kept the time of that invisible song and finished that piece and the audience was serenaded with the sound of their breathing as they gave us a beautiful, muscular, riveting show. Sigh. I loved it. They did it again later in the show with the music and nailed that one, too. But my friend Jen turned to me after the second time and said, "You know, I think I liked it better without the music." Awesome.

So, in honor of this weekend, I'm giving you clips of the music from my three favorite pieces. The first is the music that stopped, the second is in honor of Joy and the third is a shout out to the ballroom boys and girls. I love you people. When I get the DVD maybe I can slice it up and post the actual performances here.

Currently listening to this and wishing that the UGA professor had listened to "People Like Me."


Slow Me Down -- Emmy Rossum

posted by Lola @ 12:57 PM