Dance, Ya Know it!

Today was filled with entertainment. Firstly i got the opportunity to hang with Max ALL DAY. I thought I would bore her to death, but somehow I managed not to.

First orde of the day was to attend the 2:00 PM Matinee of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, which has always managed to put me in more of a Christmassy mood than I was before I walked into the spot. Considering I’m struggling with the Christmassy feeling AT ALL this year, anything would be a boost. We got our seats and began observing. While the nimble bodies floated across the stage, I felt a familiar yearning in my heart. I remembered when I was a little kid, after watching ballet performances on PBS, I’d dance around the house for HOURS. How I used to sit and “choreograph” my own music videos in the mirror in my mom’s room to various scores. And I’d sit on the floor and practice stretches that I had seen dancers perform on TV. I remembered being 5, and driven to Jamaica Avenue to a huge buidling (or its eems huge at the time) with my God Sister, Ramona, and she would get in her tights and go to the dance hall and practice her Ballet… while I sat in a little cubicle with a piano and a fairly nasty Piano teacher. I’d whine all the way home… why can’t I take dance with Ramona??? Of course I wasn’t allowed or afforded any response, because piano was what they were gonna give me and I’d better like it. *sigh*

The first performance was standard Ailey fare… supplied with music by Duke Ellington. Very jazzy… very playful. I enjoyed it. But the next performance… I can’t even put into words. The name of the piece was “Caught”. They warned us that they’d be using strobelights for that particular piece. It was a one man piece and at first he danced from spotlight to spotlight. Every digit of his body was perfectly trained to move on it own and he rippled them with a control like I’d not seen in a long time. His movents were direct and almost… alien. Some life force had possessed his human form and was moving it about… testing the range of motion. It was odd, accopanied with a strained synthesized violin-like score. Then the strobe lights started to flash and chop his motion into glimpses… To the point where, it almost looked like at times… he was flying across the stage. Completely suspended in the air. The crowd was WILD with excitement about his performance. Max said it best: It’s good that it was as long as it was (which was short). We loved it just enough and his body gave just enough. Any longer and it would have been too much. I found myself wanting more of it. I decided that I really want to pursue dance anyways. Yes… at my old age (as far as dance is concerned — all old and crickety, I want to plie and pirouette and jette and all that stuff. It’s a long road. I have to start with just plain old physical fitness. And I will. I’ll start researching. 🙂 I’m a little giddy about it.

Then after that, we walked across town (damned near) and had dinner at Houston’s. Which was delicious as always, even though for me it seemed that it was bit of a money waster. I didn’t eat anything in its entirety. I kept leaving half of it undone (except that spinach dip… which if I have anything to say about it… will NEVER go unfinished 🙂 LMAO!) We just talked and sipped our wine and I appreciated her friendship. Max has grown up in a lot of ways and I admire that about her. She’s managed to be unabashedly herself while still stretching the confines of her personality. That takes finesse.

After which we went walking a little and talking some more before hopping into a cab to get to a movie theater where we saw The Incredibles, which was REALLY GOOD! Not often do I cheer out loud at a movie theater. But I couldn’t help it with this movie. It was very well done – enough to entertain the little kids in the theater and to bring out the little kids in all the grown ups that were there. I felt bad that I didn’t wait for my baby and I to go see it, but I felt like, we were waiting so long to reignite our Date Nights, I didn’t want it to be out of theaters. I’ll tell him… I feel bad though. It was a great movie. I hope he lets me go with him.

After the movie we were off to Club Macanudos, for the Phirm Family party. It was okay. Significantly less Phirm Fam members than I’m used to. But festive none the less. We left out of there and my BRA wreaked of cigars. It was pretty gross. And my baby just packed up all my clothing and stuck it in a laundry bag and put it outside in the hallway. *sigh* I can’t blame him. I guess I’ll mosey off to bed. He’s there waiting for me 🙂

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