The Lord of the Dance

"You don't realise how much you've missed something until you have it again."

I'd only gone down to the newly re-opened library to return the couple of books that I'd had out since last year and to borrow a new one. As I came out of the main entrance onto Canterbury High Street I was greeted by an unusual sight. There were seven elderly-looking ladies about to start some kind of performance. They were dressed identically in grey headscarves and billowing black shawls and each had a zimmer frame. To the accompaniment of a slightly eerie soundtrack, they began to push their zimmer frames around one another and were looking more and more distressed and agitated. Their expressions then softened, as did their movements, and suddenly they all pushed away their zimmers and began to dance. Next, they undid their headscarves and flung them into a captivated crowd and ripped off the black shawls to reveal colourful dresses. A solitary man appeared with a large drum, onto which he was beating a flamenco rhythm. The spectacle ended with the setting off of party-poppers and the women throwing rice over the bystanders, before disappearing, dancing, round the corner. I was utterly enchanted and deeply touched. It was the first live dance performance I'd seen in over a year, the first live anything, and it was so good to experience it again.

As I went round to the other side of the library to get my bike I came across the women in their flamenco dresses, looking very pleased with themselves. "That was wonderful," I gushed. "Thank you so much." And I added, almost in tears, "You don't realise how much you've missed something until you have it again." One of them asked if I'd like more rice strewn over me. "Oh yes!" I replied, and was duly anointed. I felt truly blessed.

The day after that I was having a well-earned coffee with a couple of the guys I'd done my Saturday morning club cycle ride with (and what a treat it is to be riding in a group again). We were basking in the sun by the Argentinian café in the Dane John Gardens in Canterbury, and it was great to see people out and about again. I'd been chatting with Conor en route about coming out of lockdown and I'd told him about how much I'd enjoyed seeing a live dance performance again. Just then I spotted a couple in the nearby bandstand doing a tango. "Look!" I exclaimed to Conor and Chris, "there's a couple dancing." Chris then told us of how he had practised for months the first dance, to an 80s song, he did with his wife at his wedding, and the conversation went onto other songs from the 80s. Then I told Dublin-born Conor about a nice scene from the film 'Sing Street' in which the protagonist, a boy who forms his own band, gathers a load of fellow-pupils at his Dublin school to be dancers at the first gig and implores them to "dance like it's the 80s!"

One of my favourite scenes from 'Mamma Mia' is where all the women, young and old, dance down to the harbour to the tune of 'Dancing Queen' and then leap into the sea. An especially touching bit of that scene is an older woman casting off the large pile of sticks she's been carrying on her shoulders, joining the joyful procession, and crying out, "Oh YEAH." A few months ago my ninety-one year old mum was sent a wind-up dancing leprechaun by one of her sisters in Newry. The care home where she lives sent a gorgeous video of her standing up and doing a little jig alongside the leprechaun. This from someone who needs a zimmer frame these days to get around.

The day after the Argentinian coffee and tango in the park was Trinity Sunday and Yim Soon and I were at our customary zoom Mass. Part of a reflection from one of the women present was the playing of a Nina Simone song 'I wish I knew how it would feel to be free.' During the song several of us present began to sway and dance, and David the priest was moving from side to side the icon of the Trinity, so that it looked as if the Trinity themselves were dancing. It was a special moment.

I've always been taken by the Hindu belief that the Lord Shiva danced the world into existence. On this theme, the most well-known song of Sydney Carter is 'The Lord of the Dance', whose lyrics go 'Dance, dance, wherever you may be; I am the Lord of the dance, said he.' As a child I was convinced that this lyric was, 'I am the Lord of the dance settee.' When we were young my sister and I used to jump up and down on the settee in the living-room, and it seemed to me very fitting that God would be jumping up and down with us! The image of the dance settee has, happily, never really left me.

Yim Soon and I are delighted to have just been invited to a wedding, the first such invitation in ages. It's friends who are musicians and as well as the prospect of good music one of my first thoughts was that we'll hopefully be able to have a good dance as part of the celebration. I've written before of my August holiday in Barmouth, which is an annual reunion of old friends (who met in the 80s!), plus their now mainly adult children, which began in 2000. One of the traditions of the week is a concert night and one of the traditions of the concert night is the singing of '500 Miles'. At what was to be the final performance before Covid, the song turned into a long conga of people snaking around the concert room and that led in turn to everyone dancing, old and young together, to other 70s and 80s classics. It was one of the highlights for me of Barmouth 2019.

To finish, here again are the immortal words of Sydney Carter, at least how I remember them:

'And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be; for I am the Lord of the dance settee'!