Sometimes it seems that I already know people I've never yet met. The profoundly talented Brad Watson is one of those. I first heard of him through my W.W. Norton editor, Alane Mason, who recounted discovering Watson's work in a literary magazine. He was a fresh talent, book worthy. She got in touch. Their first publication, Last days of the Dog-Men was uncanny and brave. It won the Sue Kauffman Award for First Fiction.
I was working with Alane then on a sequence of books, and so, from time to time, I would hear wind of a new Brad Watson book—this one a novel, The Heaven of Mercury, set in the early 20th century south. It was gothic, Faulknerian, adjective-rich, a thing utterly apart from the short stories. It was named a National Book Award finalist.
A few years ago, my friend Alyson Hagy, while having dinner at my house, spoke of her hope that a certain Brad Watson would join the creative writing staff at the University of Wyoming. After he did, I would sometimes hear stories of long hikes or fishing trips. A few weeks ago, Alyson mentioned that she'd seen an early copy of Watson's new collection of stories, Aliens in the Prime of their Lives. "It's gorgeous," she said.
Yesterday and this morning, I've been reading through. This isn't Dog-men. This absolutely isn't Mercury. This new collection of stories is so utterly new and once again bold; it is internally consistent. It's as if Watson, having expended so much energy on the lyrical and braided in Mercury, decided to see what might be done with a minimum of back story and a scarcity of adjectives.
A whole heck of a lot, is the answer. These stories achieve power, momentum, and absolute artistry through the accretion of odd facts, strange circumstances, and the wholly exposed wires of human circuitry, which are not, as it turns out, always so pretty. But pretty wouldn't be half as compelling as these stories are.
"Vacuum," my personal favorite, is the story of three boys who hear their overworked and unhappy mother threaten to walk away and not come back. With the boys' father already missing, the brothers set out to save the mother. Rarely have so many good intentions gone so terribly wrong; rarely does innocence yield such havoc. Watson lays it all out, one crooked turn after another, in language that is spare and terrifying. You finish reading "Vacuum" and you understand that you are going to have to steel yourself for whatever comes next. It will be undecorated and uncompromising. It won't be like any other story you've read.
Reading the collection, I thought again of just how lucky the creative writing students of the University of Wyoming are to have the equally talented Alyson Hagy working alongside Brad Watson, sharing space this semester with Edward Jones, among others. (Last semester they even had Kate Northrop, the poet, with whom, through Alyson, I've also become friends.) I never went to school to learn how to write prose, but if I were younger, just setting out, I'd want to know what these writers would teach me.
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Dance is a physical expression of music, a chance for anyone who is willing to close their eyes and lose themselves in the moment, to let their bodies respond to the sounds that fill their ears. Unlike any other art form, it's a blending of heart and mind, body and soul. Dance can be freedom. But not everybody wants to be free. — Solvang Sherrie
Dance is feeling the rhythm suffuse itself throughout your body, become your pulse, and allowing your body to naturally follow that beat. It's letting yourself go to the moment, to the joy of life, to inhibitions and fears. — J. Petro Roy
Dance is the body telling a story. It brings the song to life, as if your body is a host to the music. — Jami
I think that dance is a way to physically express emotions that can't always be expressed verbally; or sometimes its a way to tell a story that might not have the same effect by simply speaking it. — Lauren
Dance is expressing yourself and your emotions. You tell a story.
— uprobablydontknowme
In simplest terms dance is self expression. It is the self expression of the creator of the movement, the choreographer. It is also the self expression of the dancer. Trained or untrained it does not matter. It is about expressing emotion through movement; whether to music or silence, in front of an audience or alone in your bedroom. — Danielle
Dance is telling a story with your body in it's simplest form...perhaps only a feeling...but an expression nonetheless. — Stiletto Storytime
Dance is creating art and a way to express who you are. — Sarah
Dance is the poetry of movement. I know my answer isn't as long as others but I feel that is the best way to describe dance. Terrific contest Beth. — Briana
Dance is a physical response to an irresistible stimulus, bringing internal and external rhythms together and forcing the body to move in time with them. As they sang in Hairspray, "You can't stop the beat." — Florinda
Dance is losing your inhibitions and expressing how music physically moves you. — BermudaOnion
Dance is an acristic:
Dappaankuthu from Tamil; percussion; Bollywood.
Ardha from Arabia; Bedouin; war-dance.
Nutbush from Tennessee (City Limits!); line dance...
Coček from Serbia; belly dancing; gypsy brass!
Eisa from the Nansei Islands; memorial service - Ryūkyū musicians...
Take your pick!
Tanja Cilia
Dance is opening of your heart and mind to the bodily movement of the inspiration that grabs hold of you. — Katie Guzman
Dance is moving your body in new ways, pushing boundaries and changing perspectives. I love getting lost in my own movements- sometimes even caught off guard. Dance allows you to be who you want to be (especially when done in the privacy of your own room). It is awesome. — Taryn
Dance is the body's way of celebrating freedom of mind and spirit. — Bee
Dance is when your body becomes a channel for which music can flow. When your veins run with the flow and rhythm. Your very movements are decided by the tempo, you get lost in the beat. Dance is like the changes of nature, for which each sound, your body, and the dance change in a never ending cycle. Dance is an expression of yourself,as you find your heart, and others somewhere on the smooth wood floors. To me, dance is an expression of emotion, but more importantly, Dance is the movement of life. — GooseGirl
Dance is a chance to express yourself through music, it's an art - blah blah blah. The classic textbook answer is that and such. Not that it's wrong, but I believe you can't just define dance to be a mere meaning to be able to just move your feet and/or body to a rhythm (though that's highly necessary, in matters that you wouldn't want to just fling your arms about and smack someone). For some people, dancing is their life. Others, it's a culture (perhaps to celebrate their succesful day of hunting). Wrong thinking would be, such as various belittling professionals: if you aren't willing to do your best, don't dance at all.
However that's not even remotely true. Just because you can't doesn't mean you shouldn't. If you want to say what you mean and you're not good with words, dance. Show others you mean something and that the beauty in what you see will be shown to the rest.
Plus, it's great exercise. — Jade
Dance is what you feel like doing when you are happy - so I could say that it is happiness in 3D :) — Pink Dogwood
Dancing discards the shell; discovers the soul. — Sherry
To dance is to let loose. Forget about the world and just flow with what's within. — TruBlu93
Dance is...an expression of everything one feels. It can be fast or slow; it can be with someone or alone. It can be joyful or sorrowful. Dance doesn't have to be perfect, nor can anyone really define perfection. It doesn't have to be pretty, but it has to come from the heart. Someone dancing without an ounce of rhythm can be just as beautiful as someone dancing with technical perfection. It expresses what one feels inside, and should be shown with unabashed freedom. — Hilary
I have always thought dance was your own form of interpreting the music. — pitu572
Dance is sweeping the air into life, learning that you can move, that you can fly; that you have every right to live and put your inhibitions behind you. — Inkgirl
Dance is the act of freeing your mind, body, and soul and just feeling the beat of the music as it moves through you, girating as if the whole world belongs to you and all your problems are wished away. — Boriquaz
To me dance is many things. First off - it is a way to express your emotions, your passion and your energy in a purely physical way. Dance is also something where you can view someone's entire soul by the way they hold their hand or they way the spin. It's beauty and poetry with no formal training required. — Michelle
Dance is letting go, remembering, or expressing yourself and your emotions. Dance simply is whatever you want it to be. It's anything, and everything. — Lea, YA Book Queen
dance isn't just moving along the music... is moving with the music, feeling it & expressing your own feelings to it. — CaRiiToO