i credit (blame?) ayla in part for turning me on to movement. i'd always enjoyed dancing, but here was a religion major who'd read more philosophy than i had, and she was very serious and thoughtful about moving her body. she could talk about the way people moved and she envisioned herself in motion. i was mostly hung up on words still - the idea of expressing myself with limbs other than my fingers had not yet occured to me.
a y l a it wasn't until i saw her bluegrass oriented works that i realized that's she's got an edgy sense of humour to her shaking as well. seeing her stark dance, in a crewneck undershirt and tightwhiteboxers, to a very mournful song about death sung a capella by a probably toothless kentuck man, and seeing her stop midmovement and do a "be-be-be-be-be" with her finger to her lips was just so strikingly funny.
she likes to make fun of me ("cuz you're a goof"). but i know she likes me because she invited me to passover at her house. which she conducted herself. nice job she did at that; i'm not used to seeing young women conduct their elders in religion, but she adeptly quelled the critics - "you wanna get up here and do this?"
ayla i met in spring '95 and hung out with a lot in the fall of 95.
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