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Posts Tagged ‘dancing’

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

“I’m tired,” said Deborah. “We’ve been here all day. And John wants to stay to hear Cory, but I want to see Bonsoir Catin. If I do, though, I lose my dance partner.”

Oh, the woes of a music festival.

For two years, bands that normally play weekly have been banned. So what is a dancer to do?

It is a joyful problem to have. Who will we hear next? What stage is this band playing or do we want to take a food break? Look at art?

The Festivals Acadiens et Creoles has it all. Usually a festival that happens in the heat of October, this day in March was the absolute perfect weather. Sunny and 65. Doesn’t get better than that.

I was tired. My feet hurt. Post-pandemic wearies. All in the service to joyful dancing. Let the dust fly!

“She makes the dust fly”

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Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
Time collage by Linda Mitchell

This month I am participating in Laura Shovan’s February poetry project on Facebook. The theme this year is Time. This beautiful collage made by Linda Mitchell was our prompt on Monday. So much to write about, but I focused on the couple dancing. This weekend my husband and I were dancing to one of our favorite bands, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys at an event at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. Opportunities to dance have been few during the pandemic. We were a little rusty, but so happy to be out there again. A nearby friend captured a photo of us on the dance floor.

Time in a Picture Frame

The photographer shutters the moment
mid-glide of a waltz. 
You were smiling at him 
in the way a person whose known someone for a long time-
familiarity mixed with joy.

In your mind’s eye, the planets spin an orbit of protection.
No matter what,
the photo
will always show joy. 

You do not know when loss
will reveal something else hidden there-
a child looking on
or the tail of an astronaut’s lifeline. 

Today it is enough
to smile. 

(c) Margaret Simon draft

Jeff and Margaret dancing

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Stop the Clock

When it’s time to dance,
you offer your hand, lead
me to step back spin.

(c) Margaret Simon

 

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Discover. Play. Build.

Slice of Life Day 8.  Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Slice of Life Day 8. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Celebration Saturday is hosted each week by Ruth Ayres at Discover. Play. Build. I love this idea of taking time each Saturday morning to reflect on the week. Today I celebrate family, health, dancing, Poetry Friday and my students.

I have been writing a post every day for the Two Writing Teachers (really 6 writing teachers) Slice of Life Challenge. I have challenged my students to do the same. We were out of school for the first 5 days of March, so I was pleasantly surprised when some of my students posted every day. And one of my former students has joined us as well! See their blog Slice of Life Challenge.

Yesterday, I gave my students a comment challenge. At first, I told them they should give as many comments as they get. Then I grabbed a bag of Starburst candy and said, “How many comments can you do in an hour?” One student put a tally chart on the board, and they were off. Two of my girls went to the library for more computer access and quiet. The average was 10 comments per student. By the end of the day, my eight ELA students had written more than 120 comments! And I checked them. Most of them were making a thoughtful connection. It remains to be seen whether they will keep up the pace next week without the candy incentive.

I want to celebrate health. I was down for two days this week with a nasty cold. Luckily, we had a break from school. I was able to pamper myself with lots of tea and rest, so on Thursday morning when I had to go back to school, I was well. Energy returned on Friday. My husband and I went Zydeco dancing Friday night to Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band.

If you didn’t stop by for the Poetry Friday round up yesterday, please take a look. So much richness in this Kidlit blog-a-sphere. I celebrate all of the wonderful teachers and poets who linked up and left comments. I feel the love!

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Join the Tuesday Slice of Life!

Join the Tuesday Slice of Life!

This morning instead of going to exercise, I am icing my ankle. Yes, I overdid it. My body is screaming at me. But I think it was worth it.

This was a great weekend for lovers of Cajun and Zydeco music. In nearby Lafayette, Festival Acadiens was held in Girard Park. The festival is full of traditional Louisiana music and all free!

Jeff and I danced Friday night to our favorite band, Geno Delafose and the French Rockin Boogie. Again, on Saturday afternoon, we headed out to the Festival Acadiens. Cory Ledet was jammin’ his accordian. We took a few rounds on the dance floor, a patch of sprayed down dirt in Girard Park. I have been a longtime fan of Michael Doucet and Beau Soliel, so we could not resist waltzing and jitterbugging when he came on stage. Michael is a master on the fiddle. He plays fast. My feet couldn’t help but move.

Downtown New Iberia skyline with Gumbo Cook-off tents.

Downtown New Iberia skyline with Gumbo Cook-off tents.

Sunday morning was the annual Gumbo Cook-off in New Iberia. Downtown filled with the scent of roux. Geno gets around and here he was in our own town playing at 9 AM. We skipped church to go zydeco dancing. I think God was smiling. A local photographer caught us and made us famous in the Daily Iberian.

A picture of our picture in the Daily Iberian.

A picture of our picture in the Daily Iberian.

My daughter said we looked like a young couple in the picture. My husband said, “That’s the point.” Of course, tell that to my ankle. The irony was apparent when I received the Poem-a-Day email featuring Jane Hirshfield’s poem:

Skeleton
by Jane Hirshfield

My skeleton,
you who once ached
with your own growing larger

are now,
each year
imperceptibly smaller,
lighter,
absorbed by your own
concentration.

When I danced,
you danced.
When you broke,
I.
See more here.

I am excited that Ruth Ayres is starting a new blog round-up for Saturdays on her blog Discover. Play. Build. Follow the button below and link up your Celebration post this Saturday.

Discover. Play. Build.

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Here down South in Bayou country, we like our Zydeco.  Today at Vermilionville, we danced the two-step and jitterbug to a new band Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble.  What a treat to see a young boy playing the washboard (or rub-board) like the music was in his soul and had to come out.  I stopped his young mother to ask her if I could video him.  Looking proud, she told me Cam’ron is six-years-old, her first cousin is Curley, and Cam’ron has already been on the front page of The Times.  (I think she meant The Times of Acadiana.)  Cam’ron is heading for fame!

Zydeco literally means in Cajun French, leh-zy-dee-co sohn pah salay, “the beans have no salt.”  Made popular by the legendary “King of Zydeco” Clifton Chenier, the combination of Cajun, Creole, R&B, jazz, and blues sound includes an upbeat rhythm played traditionally on an accordion and a washboard.

When I asked Cam’ron’s mother if he was learning to play the accordion, she said, “He’s been pullin’ some.”

Today, we decided that a little trouble can be a good thing.

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