Dispatch from the European Front vol. 3

[Efrim]

Vol. 3:The Dancing Girl

That crazed girl improvising her music,
Her poetry, dancing upon the shore,
Her soul in division from itself
-William Butler Yeats

Brussels is pretty much an ordinary big city when held in comparison to the other European cities I've visited. It has a few redeeming qualities, enough to make it a worthwhile place to be...but it falls woefully short of the high water mark set by cities like Prague and Rome. It is a bit of a grey place, uninspired perhaps, but not lacking in any specific way and certainly not a black wasteland like Geneva. During the day I walked the streets with an indiffrence to the city...not living in the moment and looking forward to the next stop on my tour more and more. It was all shades of grey and mediocrity during that day in the city, but that night I found a building filled with enough color and excitment to surpass any acid flashback.

It appears that the world it smaller than most of us ever considered. After a few weeks of travel I got word that a friend of mine from my hometown just happend to flee to Europe at the same time as I. Upon hearing this I took it as a sign and thought "sure, why the hell not" so after a little work I managed to get a hold of her while I was in Paris. I had never been espically close with Sarah before the trip but she was definetly good people. She comes from one of the finest familys I've ever seen, I am consistently impressed by her and her siblings who have all managed to be intelligent and decent in their own ways. They have a blue-collar tradition in their family but they have managed to preserve a appreciation of culture that is on par with anyone. This breed of people is great to meet if you can; being able to discuss Nietzsche and motorcycle engines in one conversation all without a hint of pretention is a great joy in life.

Sarah is the elder of the siblings and is a few years older than me. She has a wild pixie energy to her and she is very freewheeling and kind. You could almost say she has a bit of Eris in her yet she can also put her head together in a hurry and be very logical if the need arises. She knows what serious things have to be done before she can have a good time, but she does not worry over them once their time has passed. She maintains good balance this way. Her looks reflect her personality perfectly: her hair is exactly what you might expect, long multicolored dreadlocks with a few ribbons and rings in the mix for good measure. She wears long skirts and usually has bells on one of her ankles. She radiates an effortless grace that I really admire, though I am not attracted to her as she feels to me like a big sister. She is an exceptional dancer and she has managed to perform in several dance productions during her stay in Europe.

When we met in Paris we spent several hours discussing a multitude of topics at a fine outdoor cafe. She told me about an upcoming show she was performing in Brussels. She described to me what the style and content of the production was but it left me utterly confused. I was intriged by the fact that the explanation of what was going to happen seemed beyond me. A new experiance to be had. I decided to alter my travel plans and was in Brussels one week later.

That evening when it came time to set out and find the venue I looked at the scrap of paper she had given me and realized the venue she was performing at was on the far fringe of the city. An area full of cold and empty houses and equally cold/empty people. After a longer than expected search I managed to find the place. To my great surprise the building proved to be an abandoned YMCA that the dance troupe had bought or rented and was putting to their own use. The stage of the performance was infact the old pool which still had metal stepladders on it leading down to what had been the deep end. I talked to a few performers before the show and was plesantly surprised by them. Typically avant-garde performance goes hand-in-hand with the presence of an unbearable self-righteousness in the creator, but these dancers didn't fit that sterotype at all. They did what they did out of love and no one had any delsuions about the glamor of such a thing. It is very difficult to be overfilled with pride when you can look to either side of your stage and find a painted sign that reads "no diving". Put simply, they were happy with what they were creating, but they weren't bastards about it. I talked to several interesting people but I did not see Sarah.

Then it began. The production was called Ring. Seating around the dance area is in a circle. There are two circles. The far ring of chairs outside the pool is for spectators. The inside ring is in the pool and the number of seats in that ring is equal to the number of dancers in the production. As the show begins the dancers walk around the pool and begin to pull audience members down to sit in the center ring. Sarah walks over and leads me by the hand to a seat in the center. I am struck by the fact that as I look at her she seems totally other, no longer bearing a resemblance to my would be big sister Sarah.

You must sit there perfectly still and as it starts errie, atmospheric electronic music plays and the dancers walk around behind you. As you sit they whisper compliments and mildly erotic lines in your ear. These words come in one of three languages depending on the dancer behind you, but it seems that you understand everything. As they begin their dance it becomes clear that you are as much a part of the show as they. Being in that center ring is like being a doll, they mold and contort your body and you have to be their prop. It is an exilirating thing to be a doll, but it is always dangerous. Their range of movement was incredible and I marveled as only a person with no sense of rythm can. There is one section of the performance where a dancer walks up to you while you're sitting and puts their head in your lap. Then they lift it up and start kissing your hands, knees, arms, cheeks and head. Sarah was working with me when this came up and it was amazing to see her. Totally outside of her normal self, she was a vision of sensuality and beauty. As it progressed I wondered if I really knew this girl at all. How could I miss this side of her?

The stated goal of the show was to evolve a level of intimentcy between the dancers and the audience, and on these terms it succeded. By the end of the show you felt a part of one organism that was on stage. I was in awe of the whole thing but also a little shaken by it all.

Afterwards, I went to the local pub with Sarah and several of the dancers and once again Sarah had changed. She was back to being the one I had always known, the smart pixie from the same backwards town as I. The vision that appeared on the stage had evaporated totally. It was a hard thing for me to reconcile as I had, until that moment, always thought of dance as a lesser art form. It was the medium of the body and I was far too attached to the mind to ever give it a chance. That night I saw that her dance was was as impassioned and spirtual for her as any piece of writing I, or anyone, had ever composed. A  writers soul can fall out on to paper and a painter's on to canvas, but Sarah had for a brief moment in time, made a medium of her own body and I thought that maybe it is all the more beautiful for the fact that her art is so very temporary. It is expressed only once to one audience and dissapears in that instant, a firework that lights the whole sky for a moment of brilliant luminosity and is then gone. I will always be envious of Sarah's art, it is something I will never really understand.





By the way If all this has bored you a bit, don't worry, there will be more stories of drunken madness and hasidic ninjas soon.

[Bella]

No, this didn't bore me one single bit.
It's beautiful and I almost felt like I was there in the center ring with
you and Sarah and the other dancers. What a lovely way to begin
my day. I'm going out now to work in the garden, which also a source of
fleeting and ever changing beauty.

Thanks, Efrim.

[gnimbley]

::appreciative applause::

[Efrim]

No, this didn't bore me one single bit.
It's beautiful and I almost felt like I was there in the center ring with
you and Sarah and the other dancers. What a lovely way to begin
my day. I'm going out now to work in the garden, which also a source of
fleeting and ever changing beauty.

Thanks, Efrim.

You're very welcome.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

No, this didn't bore me one single bit.
It's beautiful and I almost felt like I was there in the center ring with
you and Sarah and the other dancers. What a lovely way to begin
my day. I'm going out now to work in the garden, which also a source of
fleeting and ever changing beauty.

Thanks, Efrim.

You're very welcome.

Break's over.  Back on your head.

[Malaul]

I wish I had been tehre for that

[gnimbley]

Yeah. Didn't that dance sound intriguing?

always thought of dance as a lesser art form

Dance is art. Writing is art. Singing is art. Art is art. Life is art.

There are no LESSER art forms.



Well, maybe anything made by goblins and trolls, but other than that, all art is a greater art form.

[Malaul]

I love to dance
I go to the local club here 2 or 3 times a week
I need that connection with music
gives me a chance to let it all out and just let the music take over

If anyone ever makes it out this way Ill drag you there too
let you experiance some good old fahioned gothy stuff...

[Trollax]

I'll agree with you about the feeling that dance is a lesser artform. But I think that maybe many people (including dancers) miss what is going on with the dance. Dance in the west has become stale, it was once about movement and energy and primal spirit. But the rennaisance infusion of religion with art managed to stifle that. By the time the enightenment came around it was set in stone and nobody noticed. Maybe that's what Nijinsky was trying to do, bring life back into it in a way nobody else ever had. But he died insane and dance branched outward but the founders of other schools of feet in the west were just as influenced by the stale dead culture of the past as before. I've watched dancers on stage hundreds of times in the past year, and I have never found the rhythm in my soul. not once. Not even when I was out in front leading the performance.
The tango, Now there is a dance. Not necessarily a form of dance which is open to varied presentation. But it is a dancee of passion, of fire.
I'll never forget the first time I ever went to a martial arts lesson; There I found the rhythm. No different than dance in the end and somewhere amidst all the forms and steps I found that special something, that celebration of life that lies in form and shape. Somewhere far off there would be drums, maybe the flute and tambourines of my maternal gypsy ancestors, maybe the war drums of my Germanic, Viking roots, but there was music. For the first time I was aware of my body as another piece of a gigantic wheel.
I think it's sad that you have to go so far and see so much before you find that in a dance.

[illusion]

I never saw dance as a "lesser" art form. It may or may not resonate with certain individuals.....just like any other art form, but that doesn't make it lesser. To me, dance has a zen-like quality because it is to be enjoyed and savored in the moment and then it's gone. But the impact it leaves behind remains.

[Efrim]

I'll agree with you about the feeling that dance is a lesser artform. But I think that maybe many people (including dancers) miss what is going on with the dance. Dance in the west has become stale, it was once about movement and energy and primal spirit. But the rennaisance infusion of religion with art managed to stifle that. By the time the enightenment came around it was set in stone and nobody noticed. Maybe that's what Nijinsky was trying to do, bring life back into it in a way nobody else ever had. But he died insane and dance branched outward but the founders of other schools of feet in the west were just as influenced by the stale dead culture of the past as before. I've watched dancers on stage hundreds of times in the past year, and I have never found the rhythm in my soul. not once. Not even when I was out in front leading the performance....I think it's sad that you have to go so far and see so much before you find that in a dance.

Good points Trollax. Before that night I was never openly hostile towards dance, I was I was just generally dismissive of it.  I was often impressed by it, but I failed to see the real art form of it.  Maybe that is because I never really gave it fair consideration or never experienced a really great performance. Whatever the reason, it was a silly prejudice of mine and Sarah showed me how wrong my thinking on the subject had been.

[Trollax]

Good points Trollax. Before that night I was never openly hostile towards dance, I was I was just generally dismissive of it.  I was often impressed by it, but I failed to see the real art form of it.  Maybe that is because I never really gave it fair consideration or never experienced a really great performance. Whatever the reason, it was a silly prejudice of mine and Sarah showed me how wrong my thinking on the subject had been.

Ditto to that. Although I've yet to meet a dancer who could impress upon me the reality in the way you experienced it.

[Efrim]

Ditto to that. Although I've yet to meet a dancer who could impress upon me the reality in the way you experienced it.

Well, I¬¥m quite lucky that way.  Often times being confronted with something undeniable is the best and fastest way to understand something.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Ditto to that. Although I've yet to meet a dancer who could impress upon me the reality in the way you experienced it.

Well, I¬¥m quite lucky that way.  Often times being confronted with something undeniable is the best and fastest way to understand something.

Not for me.  I just go into deeper denial.

[Efrim]

Not for me.  I just go into deeper denial.

Like when I tried to tell you that Neil Young is a Reganite   ?