He who laughs last has not yet heard the bad news. ~ Bertolt Brecht

We turn not older with years, but newer every day. ~ Emily Dickinson

Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. ~ Mark Twain

I still have another five years before I'm ninety. ~ The one guy in a dance class with thirty, 20-year old women

It takes that long to wise up. ~ Sheldon Brook on the guy above

Juliana Azoubel invited me to teach her Performance Dance Class at the University of Florida today. Her class is made up of thirty, 20-year old women dance majors. They are enthusiastic about dancing, pay close attention to everything you say, pick up quickly and wear clothes like in the movie Fame. I hated every minute, but anything to support Israeli dancing.

There was one guy in the class. He was wearing all black. The top was sleeveless. I tried not to look, but the bottom might have been tights. After class he came up to me and said, "I still have another five years before I'm ninety." He looked twenty-five years younger. This guy discovered the Fountain of Youth (see paragraph #1).

The last dance I did with them was Salamati, to leave them with a bang for the finale. They loved the energy and excitement.

Take a look at this video of Salamati. I reviewed this before going to class. What a difference from the way we dance. Not that there is anything wrong with dancing like this, but it is not that exciting for a performance class for 20 year old women. If I showed them Salamati like this, the women would have yawned me out of class.

I want to thank Tim, Joseph and Tony Arroyo's whole group, for inspiring me personally, and I think all of us, to dance with enthusiasm and style. And Jonathan for his unique and expressive creativity. Dora used to also bring tremendous energy and personal style. I encourage all of you to express yourselves with your own sense of grace, improvisation and excitement in your dancing.

Dancing is not the steps. Dancing is what you do with the steps.