Flutterings

The subject line's from Gemma Gorga's "It's Late," which will be at Poetry Daily for a year.

I just fixed (after a half-dozen or so sporadic attempts over the past three days) an outer zipper on my suitcase with bar soap and scissors. Go me!

Some of the dances at the February Fling I attended:

Ties of Love (a new dance by Jenny Beer [of "Keys to the Cellar" fame] -- "the tune may change, but here's what it is for now" [qfm] -- presented at the dance to David and Carolyn Tilove, who recently moved from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh)

Gotham Farewell (a recently choreographed dance by Beverly Francis, who is moving from New York to Ohio)

Pharmacist's Pleasure

The Introduction (danced with a beautifully precise partner, and oh, they are wonderful, those moments when someone who has just met me realizes, "Oh yes, this one has the timing/flirting down," and the dance blooms because you're both in full connection to each other and the music. And it doesn't hurt my ego to be sought out for dances -- particularly since I regularly and occasionally literally crash back to earth in the course of attempting other forms, including at Mostly Waltz yesterday. Though I also got to whirl through Jonathan Jensen's "Candles in the Dark") with a lovely man, and we did not stop to fix my undone shoelace.

The Dusty Miller

Autumn in Amherst (the keyboard player = composer of the tune)

Quite Carried Away

Companions

The Way of the World (modern dance by Jenna Simpson)

Farmer's Joy (Joseph Pimentel)

One couple showed up with elven ears (which went quite well with their finery, and they often look as though they're up to something even without pointy ears...) ... and the ears sprouted on several otherwise generally proper dancers later in the evening. I was reminded of another dancer's observation at an Asheville after-party earlier this month: "English Country Dancing is full of odd ducks, and that is a reason I am drawn to it."

(During the course of the Princeton evening, I was reminded that ECD does seem to draw a high number of mathematicians and other scientifically minded types -- I forget why Ars Technica came up during the refreshment break, but vaguely recall trajectories and velocities being part of the conversation.)