Swimming at the Library

Whoever thought of utilizing the abundance of space to be found amidst the rows and rows of books in a library...to dance? Leave it to me to uncover this wealth of SPACE at the John F. Kennedy Library in Hialeah, Florida, a suburb of Miami. It is OSA 150, and I am officially 25% of the way through my 600 days! Give thanks. I am waiting for a friend who is downstairs on the computer and bored out of my mind. So I take myself on a little adventure looking for open space to dance in the library. I wander into an auditorium and interrupt some people having a meeting (oops!). Next I'm meandering to the second floor where people are reading at little study tables or talking quietly in small groups about things that seem all too important for me.

Something draws me to the last row of books on the top floor. An all-Spanish books section lined with biographies of Malcolm X, La Lupe, Escobar, Churchill...and a bunch of other people. I think how funny it is I wind up on this aisle and I can't read in Spanish. I flip through some book, catch glimpses of phrases here and there. I reach with exaggeration for the books, intentionally stretching out tight muscles in my back. I shift my weight slowly so I can open up my hips, and inevitably opening up the stagnant space of a library.

As I push through the air, I feel the weight of things unmoved gradually giving way to my presence. I imagine the spirits of the deceased subjects of these books being bored with sitting on the shelves day after day unused, unrecognized, discarded into the cannon of literary history. I look at images of people, some who I know, and some who I don't, and I dance for them. I try to imagine what the Spanish texts are saying about each person and internalize that in a movement. She is a sensual singer, he an aggressive warlord...and on. How do their realities play out in a dance. Who is a leap. Who is a bend? How is a big booty roll (my favorite dance)? A few people graze by me on the way to the water fountain. One person smiles as he packs up his laptop. I am certain they've never encountered a dancing reader at the library.

My movement is quiet and not obstructing the space in the library. I remember how much more information I retain when I am dancing if I am at a lecture, or a watching documentary film. If only I had danced during Chemistry 101...haha, I might have not struggled so! Anyway, I am glad to be at the library today. I smile, remembering fondly my mother, queen of taking her children to any open libraries at any time of the day regardless of our wishes. It's ironic, she always wanted us to appreciate the library's resources; I'm sure she never imagined I'd be activating the biggest resource of them all--idle space!


Videos: OSA 150, Friday, September 14, John F. Kennedy Library, Hileah, Florida @ 11:30am