This weekend Peter and I went to see a performance by the Ailey II Company. It was absolutely amazing and, especially when they performed their last piece, entitled Revelations, all I could think about was how much Emma would have loved it.
Revelations was performed to spirituals that were very familiar to us. Emma and Sarah had sung many of them with the children’s choir. A couple were songs they had been introduced to as toddlers in their Music for Children classes. And one of the spirituals was a song they sang every summer at camp. The last movement of Revelations is danced to Rock-a My Soul. It was a stunning combination of masterful technical dancing and joyful abandon. Had Emma been there, she would not have been able to contain herself. She would have been dancing in the aisles. And chances are, people would have joined her. Her enthusiasm was magnetic.
It reminded me of a concert we took her to in December 2008, just a few days before the last Christmas we would spend together. The Tom Tom Club was playing at a small venue nearby. Peter and I were big fans from our college days and we thought the girls might like them, too. The opening act was a local band called Caravan of Thieves. Their music was fun and interesting: rock with a sort of ethnic, gypsy flair. The lead guitarist was a really talented guy who went by the name of The Buzz or The Fuzz or Cuz, or some other made-up moniker his mother didn’t give him. There was an intermission after Caravan played and he came out to the lobby. Emma didn’t miss the opportunity to introduce herself and talk to him about her musical interests and goals.
The real fun began when the Tom Tom Club played. The Buzz/Fuzz/Cuz was sitting in with them as their lead guitarist and really got to show off his stuff. Halfway into the first song, a group of friends were already up out of their seats and were starting to dance in the aisles. Emma knew no one else there, but she popped out of her seat and joined right in the dancing. When the song ended she was smiling and chatting with the other dancers and when the next song began she was dancing along with that crowd of friends like she had known them her whole life. The concert ended and we had a hard time pulling her away from her new found friends. And, of course, before we left she had to track down the guitarist so she could tell him how much she had enjoyed the concert. I’m pretty sure she didn’t need to tell him. Even in the group of enthusiastic dancers, she was a standout. I don’t think he could have missed the fact that she was really enjoying herself. That guitarist and those friends are people with whom Emma had just a fleeting connection, but on whom, I have no doubt, she left a lasting impression.
Since Emma died I've come to understand that this is what is meant by the expression "larger than life." People who are larger than life are transcendent. The impressions and memories they leave last long beyond their physical presence. Emma is definitely larger than life.
There’s a greeting card poem attributed to someone named Souza. It goes, “Dance as though no one is watching you, love as though you have never been hurt before, sing as though no one can hear you, live as though heaven is on earth.”
That’s my Emma Jane.
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