Revelations

Happy Monday, Reader. It's rainy here and somber. But if you step outside, you can smell Spring on the air. It's faint--she is still so far away, but she is coming. I wish I could bottle the air and upload it here, but technology has its limits and in some ways, that is comforting too.

So I just watched Lady Gaga's new video (via PerezHilton) for Born This Way.

The choreographer is Laurieann Gibson (famous for her "Mmm CAT, Mmm cat CAT" if you watched Making the Band, which Husband and I totally did not do. We are so much more high brow than that...).

It seems obvious to me from the video and Lady Gaga's performance at the Grammy's, that Gibson and Gaga were inspired by Alvin Ailey's famous dance piece Revelations. If you're not familiar with it, check out this nicely done article by Robin Givhan for the Washington Post back in 2008.

Surely the most powerful moment in Lady Gaga's recent performances has been when all the dancers stand still and slowly raise their hands up? It made me wonder if anyone was aware of the possible ancestry of that moment. And then I watched it on You Tube and was reminded again of the incredible power of it, the emotional resonance and universal feelings of sorrow and, ultimately I think, hope that it conveys, at least to me.

A quick internet search shows that I am not the first person to think of this (no surprise there). You can read a much more in-depth comparison of Lady Gaga's recent work and Revelations by Meghan Blalock here.

So, on the last day of February, the last day of Black History Month, I thought I'd share that moment with you. May it inspire you and set your week on the right path.