WALKING
BACKWARDS
T he day Donald to see the Meg Stuart show. I spotted him walking towards me about a half a block away. He looked harmless. When he got closer, he looked around briefly. There was no one else within a block of us. And then he spat on me. My reaction was the clos- est I’ve ever come to physically assaulting someone. Screaming, I followed him up Potrero Ave, swinging my backpack, look- ing at the back of his head. But at 5’1” and maybe 105 pounds, even in that moment, I knew that I’d only be setting myself up for worse. So I turned around and went to the show. Trump was inaugu- rated, a man spat on me as I walked to CounterPulse I love dancers. More than actually danc- ing or dance itself, I love dancers. I love the way we think. I love the way we can relate to one another in a purely physi- cal way, how we can have deep relation- ships that don’t look anything like regu- lar friendships or romances. Dancers have been my favorite people since I was a teen- ager, even when my closest friends were not dancers.
BY CHRIS BLACK
PHOTO BY LYDIA DANILLER
Watching Meg Stuart dance on that teeny stage, watching that body five years older than my own, in a space filled with collective sadness and private rage, I could calm down. Surprisingly, briefly, I could calm down. For years I have said the saddest words in the English language are I used to be a dancer. I am wondering if I used to be a dancer. THE BEST DANCE TEACHER I ever had was Woody McGriff. SO MUCH JOY. He would stand in the back of the theater where class was being held at the Amer- ican Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina, and he would yell: Good Chris! Gooooooooooooooood! My teachers in SF: Ellie Klopp could be mean but her tech- nical instruction was unparalleled. She gave me a note about the placement of my coupé: I can’t tell if you’re in passé or coupé. Pick one. Months later she walked past me in a class of at least thirty dancers and muttered, Better . Joe Goode taught me to do inversions by grabbing my pelvis and holding it above my shoulders. I always got the giggles. Lizz Roman made me strong.
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in dance SUMMER 2022 66
SUMMER 2022 in dance 67
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