My daughter had her high school dance recital tonight, and I sat on the second row with my younger daughter because that is where she decided we had to sit. Life is too complicated to argue about where to sit.
The recital was …hmmm…lovely? Moving? Contagious?
The choreography was fantastic, and for the most part the dancers where completely engaged.
Yes, my 10 year-old hiccupped loudly through the soft sincere dance. Oddly enough, stern looks do not cure hiccups.
My daughter’s number was after intermission. She gave me fair warning that her number was about the movie Contagion, and everyone in her dance was going to get sick and drop to the floor.
After the week I have had, I thought, “Oh the IRONY!”
She promised me I would not cry, and I didn’t.
I did feel like I needed hand sanitizer and maybe a hospital mask after the first 30 seconds of watching many 15 year-olds dance while pretending to throw-up.
Now you might say, “Laurie that sounds awful.”
Truthfully, it was not awful at all. It was fantastic; well, I did find myself feeling my neck for swollen glands as I watched their dance of illness.
It was fantastic because the majority of the dancers were committed to the dance. Every move they made, they believed, and they felt.
That is the mark of a true performer: total commitment to the dance – every step, every breath.
I could not help but smile as I watched the energy pour out of these kids because oddly enough their Contagion dance was beautiful. In the last beat of the dance, they all fell to the floor with great dramatic flair. It was fabulous.
It made me think what if we could all live like that? What if we lived our lives as if we were in a dance: emitting energy with each move, purposely placing our feet where we want them to go, making each glance direct and meaningful, and with the last beat collapse to the floor knowing that we gave it our all…
