In 1999, an annual series of commissioned writings on contemporary art to be published in these pages was inaugurated. The following letter continues this tradition.
This is a poem about the Manakin bird
A species where the female chooses her mate
This is a poem.
This is a poem in the Villanelle form
The Villanelle has rotating formal repetitions
Just like choreography.
On reiterative waves of sound
Language rotates through the form
But this is about a dance.
Turning to dance for her most essential decision,
the Manakin chooses her mate
Rotation and reiteration are choreographic forms.
The female Manakin chooses a partner
And her measure is their dance-making
This is a species where the female has complete agency.
She chooses the male whose dance she likes the best
With her bright heart pounding
What matters is their dance.
With her bright heart pounding
She observes the dance floor,
With her bright heart pounding.
She’s watching one dancer so carefully
That she feels the dance inside her
His dance, unfamiliar and illegible.
Then she moves in closer
Now she feels his tempo falling on the edge of despair
What is your dance, she asks.
And the beat is on the edge of despair
It is dusk, that sad time
The dark rhythm stitches into her.
Shadows flash along his wings
She is understanding his dance
Let the wind blow through.
His dance is clear to her now
She invites him onto the field
She knows his dance.
Now all the females circle their beloveds
It's an aesthetic game with the highest stakes
A curation of virtuosity and love.
These dances will be the most imitated and treasured
According to aesthetic biologist Richard Prum
These are their dances now.
According to Richard Prum
The community's opinion of the dances changes the tide of choreography
As per R.P. we don't anthropomorphize birds enough.
Reverse the circle
We inspire each other to move differently
Reverse the circle.
We don’t dance enough
With birds
Before they disappear
And our dances disappear
Into the ether of time and technology
Into the bodiless future.
Annie-B Parson is a choreographer, director, and teacher. She received a Grants to Artists award in 2014.