“Forest with Castanets.”

Oct 28, 2024 | newyorker.com | Diane Mehta |“Forest with Castanets.”

Clever in the fold, you bendbackbend (uplift, clouds),bend again as if the spine,excited to perform,thinks without uncertaintythat it is dance itself. Uncertainly, we seegrace, fracas, memory—we are always seekinggood inversions, chieflybecause we know discomfortand want to conquer it. I wonder how it feelsinch by inch to find the floorand, forsaking safety, leave it. So much your body is meshedin flex and yet yields tougherthan softness suggests. But do you ever feel your bodyis a noose?