I’m not a big poetry reader, ordinarily. But Pablo Neruda’s words arrest me.
I’m not going to try adding anything new or insightful about his work here. Instead, I’ll just share one of my favorites, “Tu Risa” (”Your Laughter”).
The last stanza is my favorite:
Here’s my recap of my time in the “12 Days of Christmas” show I invited you to earlier.
Its Sunday night and the show is finally done.
I loved this. Being a part of the show… learning each little bit of dancing… choreography… acting.
I loved getting to know the kids and the parents and yes: I even loved the long hours spent at the studio. I was especially thrilled with the adrenaline and nervousness that rushed through me just before going on stage.
This was, indeed, a lot of fun for me.
It’s not to say this wasn’t hard - it was. I think I’ve been perpetually tired over these past few weeks. Tired in a good way, though. Ballet has pressed my body more than anything else in recent memory - not even my most active salsa dancing came close to this.
“the interpretation of a thing can kill the experience of it”
It’s something my pastor said a while ago when preaching on some poetry from the Bible (Genesis 1), and it resonated with me on a number of levels. True both of the text and other experiences in life: art of all kinds - movies, paintings, poetry - or events like weddings, funerals and going-away parties.
Too often my personality type is naturally bent toward observation and internal reflection - I take things in, break them down and strive understand how pieces fit together. It’s not in itself a bad thing (great if you write software, in fact) but it gets in the way of being more visceral and simply being in the moment, you know?
Maybe that’s why I push myself in dance so much: I get the best of both worlds. I need to anlayze and understand all the little parts of a move as I’m learning it, but when I finally get out on the dance floor my body simply has to take over and know it, and I almost have to let myself be caught up in the moment (the musice, the movement…). 