Interpretive Dance from the proto-hood (the Ghetto)

Dear Gentle Reader,

Some things have to be seen to be believed.

Like the image in the title shot.

Do you have any idea why this Venetian carving looks the way he does? 

Would you believe your humble scribe if he tells you that he thinks this might be a realistic carving, and not a fanciful grotesque?

What if he told you that there was a sewage drain underneath...

And anyone unfortunate enough to stand there for a photo, or for a painting, or a carving would end up looking like this...

Hmm? 

Likely or not?

Which brings up the issue of how difficult it is sometimes to show the observer everything through the limited realm of photographs. 

Sometimes photos are out of focus. Or they do not focus on the whole field of vision. Or their field of vision is too small. Or there are simply too few photos.

Which brings me to interpretive dance.

How I wish that someone else knew how to use the video portion of the point-and-shoot besides your wonderfully talented, humble, scribe.

This was the great interpretive dance piece of 2008.

I fear that most people missed it.

It may be hard to make out what it meant when you only have fragmentary glimpses of this monumental oeuvre.

It spoke of longing.

And desire. 

Of fears.

And hopes....

This dance, interpreted, said.... 

"These pants might not have holes, but I am cold."

"I want a hot chocolate. Venetian style."

"If we do not stop for one, I will continue doing this."

"I am a lawyer. Nothing will embarrass me."

"Oooh. This guide map says that this is the oldest Jewish ghetto in Europe.... True, the word ghetto was derived from the abandoned foundry that was previously here, in the Cannaregio region of Venice, and given to the Ashkenazi and Italian Jews in 1516. True, this area was called 'Ghetto', or, actually 'Gheto' as a result of the Italian word 'gettare' which means casting, which is what you do with the metal in a foundry. But this was not the first place or time in Europe where Jews were sequestered... It is simply where the name 'ghetto' originates from...which is etymologically cool, but not what the map implies. Where is truth in tourism?"

(Visual-dance-to-word transcriber's notes...the above section of interpretive dance was a particularly impressive series of steps, hops, combined routines, and superspins. Whirling dervishes couldn't beat this man... cameras could not adequately capture it either...)

"My blood sugar level is dropping. I am getting grumpy. Fabulous Venetian Hot Chocolate (that you eat with a spoon! A SPOON!) Now!"

...

And thus ended the dance.

...

Beautiful, no? 

And humbling for the professional dancers in the blogosphere, too.

Some people have it all. (Those lucky scribes. And modest, too.)

...

And what did your humble scribe receive at the end of his impassioned interpretive dance session? 

A threat of rabies shots.

*sigh*

And a kosher cappuccino. (This was the Jewish district, the Gheto...)

*doppelsigh*

Tschuess,

Chris

Postscript 

Who was that German Museum Director (Directorin?) who was so oblivious to the dance of the century occurring right beside her? How can anyone have a background in the history of modern art and dismiss this great body of work? (And that great body too...) ...