not the best, but it doesn’t even matter, really.
in I Lift My Eyes Up, Performance, Thoughts and Feelings
as anything, beat, blue eyed girl, body, BOOM, boom boom boom, bum, change, class, corner, crazy things, dancer, dreams, drummers, girl, Guy, half, heart, hour and a half, kind, love, mea, person, poem, presence, Read, samba, Shakespeare, Shakespeare--maybe, shy, something, tra, truth, wonderful things, wonderland, world
I will say it: I am not the best dancer in the world.
Truth is, I am not the best anything in the world.
But that doesn’t really matter. Because who is? Not being The Best In The World is peripheral compared to this: What is it that you love?
And I mean real love. The kind that makes your heart beat faster and your body feel electric as you push yourself and find that you’re doing things you never imagined you’d do. Not ever. Maybe for the guy who’s shy, who’s never read Shakespeare–maybe he’s suddenly writing a poem to some blue eyed girl in Minnesota that, just by her very presence, has transformed Minnesota into some kind of wonderland. A place where dreams are born.
What I mean is, being in love transforms you.
And I love to dance.
Which is why I went to samba class again tonight. Why the four drummers playing in the corner were changing the beat of my own heart, turning it into something that went bum, BOOM, boom, boom, for a change. And why I shook my whole body for about an hour and a half. These are the kinds of crazy things that people do–people who are in love, I mean.
And no, I am not the best dancer in the world.
But do you refrain from falling in love with another person for the mere fact that you are not The Best Person In The World?
No, you don’t.
And that doesn’t matter at all.
Heck, that doesn’t even exist at all.
You fall in love, and then you’re doing crazy wonderful things (one hopes). You’re stopping at nothing to make sure you’re the very best vehicle for that pure strong love to flow through, and you point it nowhere but in your beloved’s direction.
So it is with the things that we love to do, I think.
And I remembered tonight, while shaking it in samba. I remembered how much I love to dance. And that’s something, guys; that’s really something.
yoga.
in Funny Stuff
as ability, anything, Auto, cannot, class, Draft, ebay, elbows, fact, fifty, judgement, kind, knees, leg, levers, man, mollification, pose, right, room, something, spandex, spandex pants, strength, teacher, terminology, tonight, tw, yoga, yoga class
I took a yoga class tonight and the teacher mentioned to me that I have “long levers.”
She mentioned this twice.
I thought that was kind of funny terminology and wanted to laugh.
I probably would have if a). that would not have been considered rude, b). it did not feel like one hundred and fifty thousand degrees in the room, thereby zapping me of my strength to do anything other than the pose I was trying to accomplish, and c). I thought that laughing would help me actually be able to balance my knees on my elbows for longer than 2.5 seconds.
The man next to me during the class was really into it.
Like, spandex pants into it.
He was so into that he could balance his knees on his elbows for much longer than my 2.5 seconds.
I tried not to be too jealous.
You can always buy spandex pants, but you cannot buy the ability to balance knees on elbows.
And yes, I checked ebay.
I was somewhat mollified by the fact that I could get my leg a lot higher in the air than he could.
And then I felt guilty for that mollification because the teacher said something like, “And remember, there is no judgement and no competition in this room,” right about then.
(but I still got my leg higher)
(I just tried not to think about it)
Is it bad that my favorite part of the class might just be vinyasa?
Because that is when you just lay there, still and serene with your eyes closed and I am pretty sure that I almost fell asleep while practicing it tonight.
In fact, I think I am gonna go all vinyasa right now.
And really fall asleep this time.
if I were to teach yoga, I would definitely incorporate the hippo.
in Funny Stuff, Thoughts and Feelings
as blank stare, brother jonathan, church, class, dance class, drama camp, frog, gazelles, hippo, Yep
For the past two weeks, my brother Jonathan has been running a children’s drama camp at our church. But please be specific about it. It’s a drama camp, not a theater camp. Not at all. Because when I asked my nephew Ollie how he was enjoying theater camp, he gave me a blank stare before [...]
go on and fly
in I Lift My Eyes Up, Loved Ones, photography, Thoughts and Feelings
as caption, class, close, erin, grand allegro, pain, pink tights, point shoes, sketch books, stroke, stroke by stroke
Sometimes we all take out our sketch books and draw together. We talk while we hunch over our pictures, trying to make the world better I guess, stroke by stroke. This is what came out tonight. The inspiration is a photograph I love. My friend Erin and I are in ballet class. We are hard [...]
finally, I did it.
in Thoughts and Feelings
as class, degree heat, drew, dry as a bone, Heck, hot yoga, newark shopping center, sweating, theater, thick air, time, today, yoga
I completely surprised myself today. I mean, really, I did something that I’ve never ever done. Sure, I’ve thought about it before. I’ve even felt guilty because I’ve felt like I should do it. But still, it just hadn’t happened. So I stopped expecting it. Which is why I was so surprised to sweat profusely [...]
