Only the end of the school year could possibly push me to title a post with a shard of lyric from Cats. And yet, here we are. In the stale cold smell of morning.
Forgive, I made the mistake of showing Schindler's List to a group of outgoing seniors yesterday, it never having occurred to me that they couldn't/wouldn't engage in a black and white film where people had accents. Hard to believe the film is almost 20 years old, hard to believe that they could watch it and feel nothing. I remember being wrecked. My friends remember being wrecked. But yesterday? No dice. Senioritis trumps all.
Given how long I have been measuring out the time until the end of the year, I suppose I can't blame them- it was a beautiful day, they are just counting down the hours til they graduate. So it goes. But it left me feeling old, disconnected, and depressed.
On the brighter side of yesterday, I saw a crow pick up a shiny bit of litter from the parking lot and fly away with it, which was interesting. I ran sound for a dance recital rehearsal- which was another "time is seriously passing" experience, since it was a recital for my former dance instructor's school. So familiar, but with a whole new generation of kids. Dance lessons were my first foray into the performing arts, and when the teacher left the island- to pursue further dance education and life in general- the performing arts on the island, such as they were, seemed to dry up completely... Paving my road off the island to pursue further education and life in general.
So I never got my five year trophy, nor did I ever graduate to ballet en pointe. But hey, Sue is back, I am back... and if Zelda Fitzgerald can get a late start picking up ballet, why not me?
It is funny, watching the young dancers- I well recall we all had our motives, as I imagine they all do. Some were in it for the pretty costumes, or the social aspect- taking dance was a cool thing. Some were in it to move, and a few graduated to being moved by movement, as it were. The end result of the recital is fun to watch- a melange of aptitude on stage, an object lesson in coordination through the developmental phases, and proof that full body musicality is not well developed in our corner of the population. But when you see a kid connect the moves to the music, because they are just inhabiting the music... it is awesome. It is also kind of entertaining to watch how the kids watch and copy the one kid in the class who really has the routine down. The moves just flow across space from one student to another, slightly off-time. Dancing by osmosis.
