So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty, though his dreams have lost some grandeur…Coming true there’ll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty, before the last revolving year is through. And the seasons they go round and round. And the painted ponies go up and down. We’re captive on the carousel of time. We can’t return, we can only look behind from where we came. And go round and round and round in the circle game…”
Ever since I was young I’ve known this song. My mother, having the entire Joni Mitchell album collection on vinyl, introduced me to these poetic words at a young age. This is the last of three verses, and as she follows the child from his innocence through his years of joy and struggle she always comes back to the “carousel of time”. But Joni, I’ve got to say that I’m not so sure about the captive part, and I’m not so sure about the time part either.
I have been watching the 1950s musical, “Carousel” over the past two days. Taking notes, and watching the intricate, awe-inspiring choreography inspired by the great Agnes De Mille.
I’m on an Agnes De Mille kick this year. In addition to choreographing “Carousel”, I’m using a medley of Arthur Fiedler orchestrated pieces that are all “American”- orchestrated themes, with a touch of hoe-down, country, even Oklahoma!, the first Rodgers and Hammerstein classic. Basically, Agnes De Mille is a huge iconic figure among modern ballet dancers that are not subject and imprisoned by the confines of classical ballet. Actually, Agnes De Mille once said something to degree of, “Other dancers have kicked higher or turned more, but that’s no substitute for passion!”
When I was young, even though I knew better, I was convinced that my Ballet teacher, Miranda Sugarman, was Agnes De Mille. She came from Russia (Agnes didn’t), and had a wonderful and strong accent. With strict ballet teachers, Russian accents make everything more dramatic. She had the most amazing choreography, and was trained in Character dancing, a mix mash of different Hungarian, Russian, and Czech folk dances that ranged from Czardas (char-dish) which is slow, controlled, 2/4 or 6/8 tempo to other insane fast Russian folk songs that were fashioned after the Trepak dances. So, yes, I thought she was Agnes De Mille in some sort weird way, or atleast, she was my Agnes De Mille.
So I’m taking this knowledge, and trying to learn more to put some fabulous choreography forward starting this week. Carousel is fantastically cheesy, dramatic, and so far my favorite part is when they have the first clam bake of the year….(oh yea, did I mention that the story takes place in “New England” - I think it might be the Cape). Basically, everyone stuffs themselves silly with lobsters and clams, and then they sing a song about it. Click here to listen, it’ll open in a new window.
The Carousel play is different than the movie in detail, but really the driving point throughout both is that time is so precious and we shouldn’t take what we have for granted. Much like a Carousel, we could waste hours going round and round in circles without ever really getting anywhere. However, the Carousel also stands for such positive things like utopian freedom, and carelessness. But, moreso, the issue of time. As of late, time hasn’t seemed to be on anyone’s side.
I started using a cucumber and aloe extract eye gel every morning and night, because I think I might be getting those little crows feet on the corner’s of my eyes. In some kind of effort to be preventative, I started a routine of application, and actually it feels really great, and smooth, and cool on my eyes. My boyfriend Eliot is working so hard at making things happen. And because he’s making things happen, he’s helping to make things happen for other people too. The other night he was setting up the new sprayer backend for 3rdarm.biz, and working with WP 2.0 he ran in to a couple of obstacles with the image upload directory feature and he was able to code hack and make it workable. He posted the fixes on his website, Fleshout.org . My housemate Art has been running back and forth between Connecticut and the East Coast Grille for the past 4 days. Despite the fact he has three arms, he is still almost human, and time doesn’t slow down, even for the IIIs.
More on time in the future. For now, feast your eyes on this.
