Performers

 

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Today I am grateful for performers.  I can barely speak about the performances at the Open House at the Kimmel Center, because I’m still overwhelmed.  If you’ve been paying attention you know how much I love dancing.

 

One male dancer from Philadanco, a Philly based modern dance company, had limbs so slender and long that he looked like Gumby after he was tugged twice as long as normal by four little kids.  His extensions (arm and leg, not hair) and leaps were unbelievable.   I could have watched him all day.

 

A young woman, also from Philadanco, in a flowing white dress was half-way through her dance number when the sound system went  crazy. . .then stopped completely.  She paused for a brief second, in position, waiting, then danced on, sans musical accompaniment.  She had been dancing full-on for almost 10 minutes when the music came back on.  From the beginning!  So she took her original position and did the whole number again.  She must have needed and IV by the time she was finished. It was hot in there!  Not just a little hot, but hot-hot because that beautiful glass ceiling did nothing to keep the blazing sun out.  I don’t care.  I would have sat there for hours to see the snippets of shows to come.

 

And then there is the ballet.  Oh my.  The ballet!  My true love!  I swear when the Black Swan was leaping through the air. . . it was me.  In my mind, in my heart, in my soul.  I watched her like a predator watches prey.  Simply stunning.  And on the tiniest of stages!  I can tell you the precise moment when she totally “lost” herself in the dance.  She was transformed.  So was I.  Yes, I bawled.  Through the whole thing.  “Allergies,” I said to the little girl sitting next to me.  “My eyes water from allergies.”  I couldn’t help thinking of how when budget cuts are needed, “the arts” are always the first on the hatchet block in schools.

 

Each performance was a jewel. . .and I am very grateful I experienced them. (The pics are not the greatest. I was too much in awe to think about pictures during the ballet. To see better you have to get inside my head. . .trust me. . .you’re better off looking at these.)