—->’

An artist friend of mine Fredericks Ngo Kii posted this on his facebook page sometime ago.  I thought I’d share it, as yesterday I had a difficult conversation and as I came away from it I was reminded of this beautiful lesson of remaining true to yourself, of recognising, accepting and embracing your life mission, no matter how painful the steps are along the way.

in French and English

“Un Maître Zen vit un scorpion se noyer et décida de le tirer de l’eau. Lorsqu’il le fit, le scorpion le piqua. Par l’effet de la douleur, le maître lâcha l’animal qui de nouveau tomba à l’eau en train de se noyer. Le maître tenta de le tirer nouvellement et l’animal le piqua encore. Un jeune disciple qui était en train d’observer se rapprocha du Maître et lui dit :«Excusez-moi M…aître, mais m……ais pourquoi insistez vous???  Ne comprenez vous pas qu’à chaque fois que vous tenterez de le tirer de l’eau il va vous piquer ? » Le maître répondit: « La nature du scorpion est de piquer et cela ne va pas changer la mienne qui est d’aider. »

Alors, le maître réfléchît et à l’aide d’une feuille, il tira le scorpion de l’eau et sauva sa vie, puis s’adressant à son jeune disciple, il continua: “Ne change pas ta nature si quelqu’un te fait mal, prends juste des précautions.  Les uns poursuivent le bonheur, les autres le créent. Préoccupe-toi plus de ta conscience que de ta réputation. Parce que ta conscience est ce que tu es, et ta réputation c’est ce que les autres pensent de toi…Quand la vie te présente mille raisons de pleurer, montre-lui que tu as mille raisons pour sourire.”

—————-

“A Zen Master saw a scorpion drowning and decided to remove it from the water. When he did, the scorpion stung him.  As a result of the pain, the Master dropped the animal which fell into the water and it again began to drown.  The Master tried once more to take it out, and the animal stung him once more.  A young disciple who was observing approached the Master and said. “Excuse me M….aster, but b…ut why do you insist?  Do you not understand that every time you try to take it from the water it will sting you?”  The Master replied: “The nature of the scorpion is to sting and that will not change mine, which is to help.”

Then the Master reflected, and with aid of a leaf, he took the scorpion out of the water and saved its life, then turning to his young disciple, he continued:

“Do not change your nature if someone hurts you, just take precautions. Some pursue happiness, others create it. Concern yourself more with your conscience than your reputation. Because your conscience is what you are and your reputation is what others think of you…When life presents you a thousand reasons to cry, show it that you have a thousand reasons to smile.”

Fred and I met in 2008 whilst working at the Paris Jazz Roots Festival.  His commitment to Tap as an organic street dance was inspiring. 

Fredericks Ngo Kii
African/French tap dancer – Paris, France
“Since 13 years ago I developped a form of tap oriented evolution of “street tap” mixing styles, funk rhythm and hip hop gestures.”

Close your eyes, make a wish and blow

On Tuesday 12 March 2013, the Savoy Ballroom will be 87 years young.

I would have loved to have danced there.  All the stories that I have heard, from Norma and Frankie especially.  And when I see the footage, I think…maybe if I cross my fingers, close my eyes and wish real hard, then…

Savoy Ballroom Celebration, Lyon, France 2012.
Photo: Jul Effet

Last year, I and the gang at Rhythm Tap N’ Swing put on a little party to celebrate. This is what we got up to in Lyon photos. The party was attended by mostly members from the association – a small but very enthusiastic bunch of dancers.  Let’s hope that there will be more happy feet dancing there this year.

The Savoy Ballroom was … located at 596 Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st Streets in Harlem, New York City . It was in operation from March 12, 1926 to July 10, 1958…owned by white entrepreneurs Jay Faggen and a reputed Jewish gangster, Moe Gale…It was managed by African-American real estate business man Charles Buchanon.

…It could hold up to 4,000 people. The interior was painted pink and the walls were mirrored.

Unlike many ballrooms such as the Cotton Club, the Savoy always had a no-discrimination policy. Generally, the clientele was 85% black and 15% white, although sometimes there was an even 50/50 split. Lindy hop legend Frankie Manning noted that patrons were only judged on their dancing skills and not on the color of their skin…All they wanted to know when you came into the Savoy was, do you dance?”. Virtuosic dancers, however, excluded others from the northeast corner of the dance floor, now referred to as the “Cat’s Corner,” although the term was not used at the time.

Taken from Wikipedia

Savoy Celebration – 2006: Frankie Manning, Chazz Young, Mickey Davidson, Norma Miller, Angela Andrew

What they were doing then voice over, Norma Miller

What we are doing now 🙂

It’s funny how history repeats itself, so many parallels on sooo many levels (a bit of an in joke I’m afraid).  So if you fancy shaking a leg in honour of the Home of Happy Feet, or even finding out more what is behind the “in joke” then come along to Jitterbugs on Wednesday 13th March and ask me.

Some links:
Savoy Ballroom on Wikipedia
www.theharlemswingdancesociety.blogspot.co.uk
www.yehoodi.com
Dance Heritage Coalition
Savoy Ballroom Anniversary on Facebook
Savoy Ballroom Project

Say look-a here Lucky, what’s that place uptown that all the hep cats rave about?

Savoy Boy, Savoy

Yeah, well tell me Jack, what’s this place like, maybe I can come swing some night

P.S. Speaking of countdowns. Have you noticed, there’s another one on this page. Don’t you just love pisceans?! 😉