I Am From New York, And You Know Why I Am Here

I stepped up to the Reception Desk and said: "I am from New York, and you know why I am here."

They knew exactly why I was there.  The receptionist pointed, and said: "Go through that door and it will be on the right."

I was at the Crystal Bridges Museum Of American Art in the town of Bentonville (population 38,000) in northwestern Arkansas.  I was drawn there because Crystal Bridges is now the home of Kindred Spirits. This 1849 painting, considered to be Asher Durand's masterpiece, is in the style of the Hudson River School. 

The painting depicts Thomas Cole and William Cullen Bryant standing on a rocky ledge in the Catskills.  It appeared in one of my junior high school textbooks, basically as an icon for New York State.  

Kindred Spirits once hung on the walls of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, until the Library received an envelope with $35,000,000 of Wal-Mart money.  The painting now hangs on the walls in an art museum in a ravine in Arkansas.

Calling Crystal Bridges an art museum is an understatement.

I started my trip through the museum at Twentieth Century Art:

Then I noticed the architecture:

Then I started to look out the windows, and noticed how the museum pays homage to the nature around it:

I noticed a sculpture that caught the light:

I saw how the windows multiply an image:

Light was coming in from the sides and coming down from above me:

There were vistas:

There were shadows:

As the sun moved across the sky, the buildings took on different looks:

Even the interior doors were capturing light:

And there was water:

My mind was filling up; this place was so much more than art and sculpture.  Crystal Bridges was a convergence of many things.

I made it to the Nineteenth Century gallery.  I found Kindred Spirits.  I saluted the painting: “You may not be in New York State any more, but you are in a very fine place, indeed.”

- . - .- . - . - . 

A 3-minute video about the museum:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEe-x0i3KjY

- . - .- . - . - . 

NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com

Driving To Iowa; Waltzing To Iowa

I popped Greg Brown into my car's tape player and got on the Interstate to head to Iowa.

Greg Brown was appropriate music for my trip because one of his songs has become an anthem for the state of Iowa:

               Home in the midst of the corn, 

               The middle of the U.S.A. 

               Here's where I was born, 

               And here's where I'm goin' to stay. 

That was the first verse; then Greg sang the chorus: 

              Iowa, Iowa, 

              Winter, spring, summer, and fall. 

              Come and see, come dance with me, 

              To the beautiful Iowa Waltz.

I had written a few Scottish country dances, and when I heard Greg Brown sing "come dance with me", I knew I had to compose another one: a dance in waltz time celebrating Iowa.  The dance took form in my head while I was driving.

When I arrived at my friend's house in Ames, Iowa, I rang the doorbell, entered, pointed to the living room, and asked her to try out the dance with me.  She polished some rough edges, and I wrote the dance down.

The Central Iowa Scottish Country Dancers like my dance.  So much so that they always make it the opening dance on the program for their annual ball.

            We take care of our own; take care of our young, 

            Make hay while the sun shines. 

            Growing our crops, singing our songs, 

            And planting until harvest time.

My dance is called Waltzing To Iowa, and I never expected it to be popular outside the borders of Iowa.  Then an Iowa dancer took my dance to Australia, and said that the dancers Down Under really liked it.

I am not sure how the dance started to spread after that. 

An email showed up in my inbox from someone I did not know.  It was a woman in New Mexico, and she had a question about my dance.  How did somebody in New Mexico know about Waltzing To Iowa?  It is on YouTube.

On YouTube?  Waltzing To Iowa is on YouTube?  I logged on and watched a group of young people in Erie, Pennsylvania, dance it.  Oh, no!  They got the dance wrong; their version had an awkward turn in it.  

Then I found another YouTube video.  This time it was Palo Alto, California.  They must have been inspired by the dancers in Erie, because they had an awkward turn; California got the dance wrong.

A third video showed another group of dancers who got the dance wrong.

I quickly emailed the woman in New Mexico the real instructions for Waltzing To Iowa, in hopes that New Mexico would get the dance right.

My dance has gone viral, but it has gone viral with an error in it.  How will I ever get it back?  

The Internet also told me that it has been danced in Cambridge, England, in November 2012, and my heart sank.  There was no YouTube video, but I can only assume that the viral version crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and Great Britain got the dance wrong.

I will see what I can do about damage control, but I am afraid that Waltzing To Iowa has waltzed off on its own.

- . - .- . - . - . 

Greg Brown's song, The Iowa Waltz, sung as a nice duet (3 minutes): 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgNy9IwwY2Y

My dance, Waltzing To Iowa, on YouTube, with an awkward turn (4 minutes):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idxzI7FhZR0

- . - .- . - . - . 

HERE ARE THE CORRECT DANCE INSTRUCTIONS:

WALTZING TO IOWA

A 32-bar Waltz for couples in a circle.

Couples facing center of circle, nearer hands joined.

  1 -  4    Waltz towards center of circle with nearer hands joined for two bars and retire for two bars.

  5 -  8    Turn toward partner to face out of the circle and waltz away from center with nearer hands joined for two bars and retire for two bars.  Finish facing partner.

  9 - 12   Gypsy with partner, dancing around each other back to place, keeping eye contact but no hands joined.

13 - 16   Right hand turn with partner.

17 - 18   Retaining right hands with partner, link left hands with neighbor to form a large circle with men facing in and women facing out; everyone balances right and left.

19 - 20   Change places with neighbor using the left hand.

21 - 22   Retaining left hands with neighbor, link right hands with new person to form a large circle with men facing out and women facing in; everyone balances right and left.

23 - 24   Turn neighbor with left hand halfway.  Finish facing partner.

25 - 28   Dance back-to-back with partner.

29 - 32   Pass partner by the right shoulder; turn new partner with two hands to face center of circle, nearer hands joined.

   

Dance written by Doug Schneider in 1993.

- . - .- . - . - . 

NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com