EVERYDAY BALLET

"Pointe Shoe", oil,
by Oriana Kacicek

     My wife and her son, Aaron, and I saw a stunning performance by the Boston Ballet yesterday, and it reminded me, as we rode home on the train, that beautiful ballets are continuously being danced all around us. It’s strange that I so often miss this marvelous fact – that dance-like harmonies of the highest order are all around us, always. Closest to home, there’s the graceful symmetry of our bodies – our balanced limbs and organs, as well as the flawless steadiness of the passing of blood through our veins and arteries. There’s the graceful twirl of tree limbs in winds, the spins that sparrows show off as they search for food, and the stylish skips and leaps of squirrels. Even the slow fall of old spring blossoms to the grass these days seems to be done with poise and precision, as we saw yesterday while walking in a park in Boston with floating white dogwood petals pirouetting in the air around us. Ballet at the theater is a blessing, but no more so than the skillful dancing of the everyday world.