Avant (forward)

THE CHALLENGE:

If you need a prompt I'm going to give you a challenging one. Listen to "Shadows" by Lindsey Stirling (don't watch the video) and answer the following questions:

Where is this happening?
What is happening in her piece?
What is the emotion?

And then write a poem about what's happening.

 

I have never heard this song and the intensity and intricacy of the violin seemed to conflict with the driving pulse of the beat which for me felt like internal conflict. The violin immediately brought to mind the image of a ballerina, the beat made me feel determined, driven.

This is what I came up with…

Sitting on the marley floor

she laces the ribbon securely

around the ankle of her outstretched leg.

Preparation nearly complete

she stands on pointed toes

extending every muscle.

She is warm, she is ready

and she leaps into the air

as if she is throwing herself forward.

With ferocity of movement

yet a precision that borders on

stillness personified, she begins.

Again and again and with 

a steely hardened resolve

she attacks the floor with the steady drive of a pulse.

Dessous, dessus, devant,

under, over, front

rapid fire movement, pounding out a beat.

Trial, failure, try and fail

she will keep this pace

until these twists and turns bear her name.

She will own this sweat, this blood these tears

she will own this screaming pain

but for now she is driven by the pounding in her ears.

First position once again

the crescendo of this act begins to build

and she is flying.

She has become the movement

she has become the music

she becomes all that she sought and she is found.