Mishmash of posts

I know, I know. Not enough posts. It's not like I haven't been trying. There are several drafts of posts which I have started and abandoned. But I'll try to bang out one really long one (edit: that didn't happen). Here goes...

The How to Patronize the Arts post was where I planned to describe all the artistic things that we had seen. Now there are too many things to go into great detail, but I saw:

STOMP in Antwerp with Gino and his doctor and doctor's husband. We drove there, and it was quickly apparent that no one really knew where the theater was. Evidently they thought the theater would be big and obvious enough that if we just drove around Antwerp for a while we'd stumble upon it. Too bad we left really late and just barely made it there on time.

The great thing about STOMP was that no one in the audience has to speak or understand any certain language. A great deal of the humor was slapstick. The Flemings, the Wallons, and even the Americans in the theater could all chuckle when the member of the group designated to take the physical abuse got smacked in the head with a pipe.

After STOMP, we went for drink in a gaudy golden mall. A floating champagne bar in a gaudy golden mall, to be more precise. Now, Antwerp is quite well known for its fashion. I dressed to impress (or so I thought). Maybe the fact that a single glass of champagne cost 16 euros ($25) should have tipped me off. Let's just say I felt poor. But the champagne and passion fruit chocolate dessert were comforting.




I am so bad at getting these posts finished. My goal should be to write two short paragraphs and just post what I have—to follow up on things when the mood strikes.

My experience here has introduced me to new art forms that I never expected to enjoy. To fill you in on it all would take a sit-down, so I’ll focus on the big surprise. BALLET. It’s the macho man’s worst nightmare: a bunch of tall stick-figure women prancing around to classical music, occasionally jumping into the buff arms of prop-like men. All cinematic references to ballet that I can recall involve guys falling asleep due to boredom. I can tell you that last Sunday, this was certainly not the case for me.

Bejart is a famous ballet choreographer, one that Gino worked under for a time when he was younger. He revolutionized the scene in many ways. The prop-like man mentality that I mentioned really got to him. Whereas most people thought of men as too bulky or powerful to perform elegant dance, Bejart felt that men could dance the same moves with a different spin (no poor pun intended). Therefore he turned famous work completely on its head by reversing the gender roles. The ballet I attended with Gino, Peter (his doctor), and Peter’s husband was a marvelous example of Bejart’s work.

The dancers were gorgeous, and their bodies did incredible things. I found myself wondering how many years of training it took for them to achieve such a level of perfection. Each dance had a story to tell, ones which I found more satisfying to interpret myself as opposed to watching a play and having the characters express themselves aloud. The non-verbal communication through music and dance was tiring because my eyes wanted to catch every detail, every piece of the puzzle. It made me almost sleepy by intermission but, I think, for quite different reasons than my ballet going counterparts from TV and movies.

What surprised me most was how modern the dance often was. One character/dancer sometimes played the part of conducting the music. He was dressed in a suit, with no shirt, shoes, or (from what I could tell) underwear. Just pants and a jacket. His long hair bobbed around in a funny way because of the long uneven strides he took across the stage.

Also, the end piece was borderline pornographic. Ok, that is an exaggeration. But it was very clear that the main couple were air humping each other. Especially when the other couples watched, and subsequently mimicked their moves. Oh and the male laid on top of the female for half of the dance (no humping at that point).

Afterwards, Gino explained that when the dance was first done it was quite scandalous. The critics and Paris wrote that Bejart could have kept that in his bedroom where it belonged. He also explained the departure from traditional gender roles. For dinner, Peter took us to a nice hotel restaurant where I drank some kir as we waited for it to be 16:30 (when they start serving dinner). The asparagus and goat cheese dish was delicous.

We spoke mostly German, since my German is better than Peter’s husbands English. They told me about the trip they are taking to America this summer, and were excited to learn that I’ll be in DC when they visit. Gino later told me he’s jealous they get to visit me and he doesn’t. Peter is really taking advantage of the dollar to euro conversion rate. Gino should follow suit, I think.

Anyway we just had a dinner party, I’ll get online to post this now.