this thanksgiving break my family ventured out west to las vegas.
my soul feels a bit grimy for going to such a hedonistic place, but i suppose it's quite like college. the parallels are shocking, i'm sad to admit.
but while there, we saw a performance of cirque du soleil's 'o'.
wow.
no wonder it's named 'o,' for that's the shape your mouth remains in for the entire two hour performance.
in a way what was most beautiful about the show was the strange dream-like familiarity that permeated the set, music, costuming, and dancing.
everything was spectacular.
and also horribly sad. all of the contortionists and acrobats and dancers had such amazing talents that i felt sad knowing they could no longer derive satisfaction simply from walking or standing.
who would want to walk on two feet when you can fly or twist or dance so wonderfully?
and knowing that there would be other shows just like it-- other performances of 'o' sparked a bit of jealousy within me.
i didn't want anyone else to share in such an amazing display.
just as everything and everyone around me had dissapated as i watched the show, i wanted the others who would see the show to dissipate into the rest of the writhing mass that is las vegas and to put away their dollar bills and their cell phones and to not treat the show simply as some sort of entertainment.
it was so much more than that.