Life: Idiotropic

This last week at Tiara's ballet school was International Dance Week where all regular classes were cancelled and for only 14Euros per class, the kids had the opportunity to take ballet, jazz, tap, and flamenco with world class dancers. Tiara took three 90 minute classes with Stephanie Saland. It was an amazing opportunity for her. I had expected the dancers to be, well, a bit artsy and aloof. Instead, they were all very warm and fun to talk to. I think they were surprised to fly to The Netherlands to teach at a Dutch dance school for a week and run into an American. Stephanie was particularly animated talking about Seattle where she lives now and I once lived in college. She is beautiful and holds herself with quiet elegance. Tiara was a little uneasy at first with a teacher that "touches more," but quickly got used to that and learned a lot with Stephanie. By Friday Tiara had relaxed significantly and was smiling in class. At the end of the week she told me that she just really enjoyed being taught in English again. While Tiara danced with Stephanie, I talked with Kay Anderson, the modern Fred Astaire, and an absolutely amazing tap dancer who lives in Utah now, and Ricardo Cossio, a jazz dancer from Mexico City who only speaks Spanish. Both were very friendly. All the dancers want to come back next year and I really do hope that Zaira does the International week again. Next year I might even take a class.

To cap off a great week and celebrate Zaira's 5th year of her new school, Zaira had a big party at Tapas in Sittard where Lolo Raul (a Latino Dutch flamenco dancer living in Germany) performed some beautiful flamenco dances for everybody.

Tapas is a great Spanish Tapas (little appetizers) restaurant in the markt in Sittard. The night was perfect. The weather was not cold nor warm, but that perfect summer night with just enough breeze to keep the air alive. It was almost dark at 8 when we arrived, but the market was full of people sitting at the tables that spilled out from the restaurants all along the edge. The church tower was illuminated from below with lights and the moon shone behind it. Tapas was the busiest restaurant there and it wasn't just our party. We were given tokens for drinks there to use throughout the night and the waitresses came through all evening carrying trays of chicken skewars, bruschetta, olives, and other Spanish tidbits. It was all delicious. Lolo danced first, then throughout the night other flamenco dancers took the floor in groups to perform. There was not a sleepy person there. The colors, music, and dancing were all invigorating and so full of life, it was impossible to think about how late it was.

We ended up meeting a very nice couple that night. The wife is Dutch, but her husband is Canadian. They met over the internet. He misses Cheerios, so I have his email, so I can get a box to him. They don't sell Cheerios in the Netherlands. It's the little things that we all miss.