Just Dance

Recently I have begun to really miss modern dance.

Of course, the reason I didn't take modern this year is because it's on Friday at 4, which is a really uncomfortable time.

But I've started to just turn on some music and dance to it sometimes - often Hebrew music, since I feel really strongly connected to it. That's really crucial for me - a strong connection to the music itself, not only to the words.

And it's wonderful when I start to feel almost possessed by the music, just letting it carry me where it will.

I personally prefer modern and improv to classical, because I have not yet reached the point in classical where I can dance without thinking. Modern often requires a more relaxed posture, which I quite like.

So I have realized - if I'm feeling down or undecided or irritated, I should go find some empty space, turn on some music, and dance.

Confused, etc.

This is an angsty post. You have been warned.

I'm still thinking a lot about Israel. Especially today.

I have this thing where music makes me feel different things, not necessarily because of the way it is, but more because of when I first heard it or when I was listening to it a lot.

So there are some songs that are Israel Songs. Songs that I would listen to and would make me feel all of the feels.

And some of those songs are ones that I haven't heard in a very long while.

So I had Spotify on and was listening to one of them and BAM. The feels. I felt like I had in Israel, and suddenly I realize that I just don't feel like that anymore, and I remembered.

How much I missed my friends. How confusing it was to have two homes. How different my outlook was, how I felt about different people back then. How I felt about myself.

And I'm still thinking about it, and I'm still sad.

And also - I missed my friends here so much. How is it that after nearly six months here, I don't miss Israel so much? Was it all really that fleeting? Were my friendships too hastily built to last?

And now I miss them. And I miss the apartment. And school.

Something about my geography teacher in Israel came up during lunch. And I realized - I had never really told my friends here that much about my actual life in Israel. I talked about feelings, about homework, about general things - a bit about a few classes. But there wasn't much.

And now I remember everything.

How did I survive for so long without my friends? How am I surviving now, without my friends in Israel?

How?

IBIL

International Baroque Institute at Longy.

Explanations

1. My mom is a flutist.
2. My mom is a baroque flutist.
3. Baroque is "a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, and music." (Or so Wikipedia says. To my personal knowledge, Wiki is right.)
4. Longy is a school/conservatory of music in Cambridge, MA near Harvard. I have been around the school for as long as I can remember.
5. My mom teaches at Longy.
6. My mom is teaching at IBIL.
7. My brother and I went along with her to IBIL today.


We arrived near nine for the first class of the day - my mom was teaching flute, I attended the cello master class, and my brother went to the violin class. I didn't have my cello, since my teacher hasn't yet had the chance to return it to me after she kept it when we were in Israel, but that was okay, since it was a master class. I learned a lot about shifting, fingerings, and bowing - sometimes watching is the best way to learn. One of the cellists had a shirt that said "cello player fueled by chocolate." One of the cooler shirts I've seen. Also, one of the cellists memorized dates connected to composers and loved Harry Potter. How much better can you get?


Then they had coffee break until eleven, and my mom took me to the Conservatory's other building, where a Medieval/Baroque dance class was held. I managed to follow along well enough - the footwork isn't particularly difficult, even though some of it is exactly the opposite of ballet technique. Often it's more about the use of space and travelling around with your partner than the actual footwork, which is nice.


After that, we left the Conservatory for Border Café for lunch. I love that place - good food, and according to my mom it's fairly inexpensive. Also filling. Very filling. It's Mexican and southern-US-style food. In Harvard Square, if ever you come by there.


Then, after stopping by the newly reopened Bob Slate Stationer, we went home.

At IBIL, I found the same kind of intensity that you find at a summer dance program. It surprised me a little, since I always had a part of me that took music for granted - I've heard early music since before I was born. But I suppose that's the way it should be. I'd love to do this kind of thing for writing, as well.


This is exceedingly like a written version of a "Thoughts From Places" Vlogbrothers video.


Anyways.


DFTBA!

Mayumana

I went to this show called Mayumana Momentum today.

It was in Jaffa, and we had to drive there because it's Shavuot (a holiday) and there aren't any buses. May I just say that driving in Tel Aviv/Yafo is the worst? I mean, firstly I'm not so used to sitting around in cars anymore and secondly, it's all so complicated. Plus, you can never find parking. We were lucky in that respect.

Mayumana is a group that does something sort of similar to Stomp. Except not. It's a cross between dancing and singing and acrobatics and acting and drumming and playing music and audience participation. And it's really cool. But loud, too.

This particular show had a theme of time. There were clocks everywhere and quotes about time that were projected onto a screen before each act. And then that screen lifted up to reveal this grid-thing where the dancers/actors/musicians could climb up and each person had their own box where they danced and sang, backlit by lights, and they also performed on the stage. They had this really cool recording thing which they could press and it would play back the music they'd already created and they could record another part over it, which they also did with cameras: they would film something and project it onto the screen, sometimes filming something else and adding it. Oh, it was all brilliant.

They made the show mostly in English and movements, so most people would be able to understand. Even if you didn't speak English, you could get it from the actors' gestures, and in any case it was more about the music and dance.

All the performers were insanely adept at guitar, drumming, and singing, as well as being extremely strong and flexible. At first I thought, "Oh, I could do that," but it soon became apparent that there was no way at all.

In any case, Mayumana was really great. If you find yourself in Jaffa, I encourage you to go.