TULLE & STRIPES

Happy Veteran's Day on 11-11-11!  (Sorry, just had to get the cheesy date thing out of the way.)

I didn't have a patriotic Stars & Stripes photo to post, but did recall this shot at the rehearsal studio. Presenting Tulle & Stripes instead.  I was mesmerized by my friend's sharp stripes against her tulle, punctuated by black and white legwear.  Some of you may remember her as our long-limbed dancer from an old post: Curves in Space.

Tulle and Stripes
Surprising my friend, R, during warm ups

I don't mean to trivialize the heroes of the past.  I am thinking about them, and in fact have been ruminating on history and what the wars meant.  However, I have decided to expand this day's appreciation of people to include people who are around today, and continue to inspire me with their daily life.

I am so fortunate to be surrounded by amazing people -- Blogger friends included!  These photos are a reminder that my ballerina friends are not only graceful and beautiful.  They happen to be interesting and interested in fields beyond ballet.  My friend above has a Ph. D. in the social sciences from Stanford.  Another ballerina friend is a regular visiting professor in the sciences at Stanford with a Ph.D. from Japan.  Some are talented artists working in various media.  I could go on and on with their impressively diverse backgrounds.

Barely-captured movement
My friend, R

I believe exposure to -- even mastery of -- other fields imparts an artistic depth and dimension not acquired by merely flexing muscles at the barre.  In my humble opinion, choreographers, fashion designers, musicians, writers -- actually, any kind of artist -- are the same way.  The brilliant ones infuse their field with inspirations from without.  Is it becoming obvious that my heroes in this world are polymaths?

Which brings me to Blogging.  Next week, I will be posting about an admired, multi-talented friend in a collaborative post.  Many of you might be fans of her creative blog already.  Stay tuned!