love, lee

Ella Mae Bowen - Holding Out for a Hero


the second best thing about music is that you can move to it.

the first best thing about music—for me at least—is that it has the ability to directly create a shared experience for everyone listening to it in that moment. everyone in the stadium, the theater, the room, the car is experiencing the same beats and melodies that form the patterns of music in their ears. our senses of hearing are completely taken over in the exact same way…music (or the intentional absence of it) is a key element that takes the audience members together to the stories that are being danced in front of them.

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i am not sure why i have been in such continuous awe over the experiences i’ve had these past three weeks with other dancers at Berkeley—first going to Disneyland with my [M] family, then watching the Danceworx Showcase, then my last week performing in [M]—maybe it is because i am graduating…or maybe it is because i am finally refusing to let myself hold anything back anymore. all i know is that lately i have been noticing this certain magic swirling around the Berkeley dance community that deserves to mean something more than “student involvement” or an “extracurricular activity.” it is a magic that has created leaders, artists, friendships, memories, epiphanies, opportunities, and the feeling of love itself. it is by far the most vibrant community i have ever been a part of… and one of the many things it has done for me is that it has inspired me to think about dance and everything related to it in ways that go even beyond the still-poignant term, “living.” and especially lately, it has made me realize that dance and everything related to it is a part of me that i can no longer imagine leaving behind.