Thursday, September 13, 2007

River Dance


Alongside the Seine, not far from the Jardin des Plantes, are two small amphitheaters which look out towards the river. I had never seen them before, and they would have been interesting on their own. But it was the music that stopped me.

The sounds of strings wafted into the air, and I saw a small gathering of people in one of the amphitheaters. At first, they just stood around while the music played, although one person was clearly in charge and looked like he was trying to get something started. After a few minutes, it became clear that this was a dance lesson.

A group of about five men formed on one side, moving slowly in time with the music and tracing the steps that their teacher laid out. Unfortunately, there was only one woman, so they had to share her. Each man swapped her off after a few tentative steps. The other group appeared to be learning some kind of line dance, but I could never figure out what it really was.

I've always thought that people in Paris -- maybe this is true of any big city -- are more accustomed to being in public than the rest of us. Americans in particular go to great lengths to create zones of privacy: our cars protect us from interacting with others on public streets, our big back yards with their fences and decks mean that we never have to go to the public park. When we do venture in public, certain "private" things are taboo, such as affection. The French, of course, have no problem with public displays of affection. Just go to any public park in Paris and see for yourself.

Nor, apparently, do they have any problem learning to dance in public. I can't imagine many Americans doing this. It requires a person to put too much of his or her self esteem on the line in front of others. But these Parisians didn't seem to mind -- did I mention that they even had an audience?

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