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Folk Dance Federation of California, South, Inc.
DANCING WITH TWO LEFT FEET |
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When you feel you have no rhythm, place your hand upon your heart.
I have a deep respect for the numerous teachers who research the ethnology, technique, rhythms, and choreography of dances. I call them our "Dance Cohanim" (keepers of the folk dance faith). They look at the dances another way, and I am ever grateful for all the work and preparation they do to present the dances to us.
When they dance, I am not so sure they pay much attention to the theory or the ethnology behind the dances.
I, on the other hand, enjoy the freedom and the joy that folk dancing offers.
I danced the dance of Zorba the Greek, who, after everything went wrong, broke into a dance.
I danced the dance of Tevya the poor milkman of "Fiddler on the Roof" who sings and dances as he has to leave his beloved village of Anatevka.
How do I explain this to our "Cohanim?"
The most appropriate explanation comes from a scene of a great old movie "I Even Met Happy Gypsies" (original title: Prodavaci Perja – feather vendors), where the main character, a Romani dealer in goose down feathers, is brought in front of the local judge to explain why he was littering the highway with feathers, his source of income.
He explains to the judge, "Sir, how could you understand? First one feather and then the others, floating in the air like the first snowflakes of the winter. It was so beautiful!"
Dancing for me is as light as those floating feathers. I dance from my heart.
Printed in Folk Dance Scene, "DANCING WITH TWO LEFT FEET (45), May 2009.