I feel an ecstatic reverence beauty. Colour, fabric and form can thrill me but nothing melts me like outstanding human creativity. I wait for the transcendence I felt watching Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn dance and hearing Jesse Norman and Cecilia Bartoli sing to happen again. It is like a drug. It has happened to me watching a hockey player skate, reading skilled authors, seeing epiphany-inducing paintings and reading the biographies of genii.
What gets me in this film of a dance competition, is the behaviour of the contestants who are
not dancing—particularly the first couple on the left. I see a community here who seem to truly appreciate the performances of their "opponents." The spirit I see in this film inspires me; this competition feels like a celebration of a wonderful aspect of living—our capacity to be enraptured by music and to express our joy in movement.
It's a bit long, this film, but worth watching to the end, because while the judges decide on the winner, all the competitors dance—and not with their partners. They switch things up and—be still my beating heart—two men and two women dance together.
Finally, is there any dance form more fun than Boogie Woogie?
 |
| Click on the image to see the film. |
