Poems and Tales from Romania, by Simona Sumanaru and Michael Hart
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Simona Sumanaru and Michael Hart >> Poems and Tales from Romania, by Simona Sumanaru and Michael Hart
Most anyone could come watch the Wonderlanders skate, just follow a
few of them and you would eventually end up where they were going.
And since they weren't very competitive, they didn't actively chase
away those who wanted to see what they were trying to accomplish.
Thus came yet another period of huge growth in skating as new moves
were catapulted onto the scene every year, sometimes every month as
progress begets progress, and the Wonderlanders skated for the love
of skating. . .and were willing to share with everyone.
But those who wanted control continued to want control yet the more
. . .as more and more prizes, money and fame were made available.
Vendors couldn't make money on practice sessions they couldn't find
. . .and parents pretended they didn't want their kids going off in
the woods to skate all night alone. . .when it was JUST THAT that a
parent owed it all to. . .for that was what had created this, which
they were now all trying to control.
So the Wonderlanders found a few places no one would ever find, and
practiced in public enough to satisfy the vendors and parents.
Thus they continued to practice night and day both in public and in
private. . .and thus continued their growth.
But eventually there was just too much money involved, and practice
sessions were too profitable, so the parents and vendors both alike
tried even harder to control when and where practices were held.
The Wonderlanders were forced to make a decision. . . .
Do we skate for them. . .or for us. . . ?
They tried out several possible solutions.
They spent a week skating only in public.
Doing exactly what everyone told them to do.
It was a pretty boring week, and not much happened, other than that
the parents and vendors had very little to complain about since the
vast majority of them really didn't know enough about skating; they
could not possibly have noticed the difference between inspirations
and perspirations.
Then they spent a week skating only in private.
No one saw them. . .at all.
They did not even come back for the weekend events.
The week was not boring. . .neither for the Wonderlanders nor for a
new set of prize winners. . .nor for the parents and vendors. . .an
already nervous breed. . .now considering their own extinction.
The Wonderlanders didn't really care about the prizes all that much
and this way they all got to actually skate more than they could in
the various competitions, where they actually only skated just very
little, when it came down to it. . .a little warming up. . .a short
skate. . .and a longer skate. . .perhaps totalling 10 minutes, then
maybe something at the end, maybe not.
Not much skating.
As for the prizes. . .each of them had more prizes than they really
could could ever hope to wear or display. . .most of the time a box
under the bed held them all. . .not one day out of a hundred did it
get opened. . .other than to put more prizes IN. . .not take any of
them OUT. It was like a black hole. . . .
The next week the Wonderlanders returned and faced everyone openly.
The two weeks did NOT balance out well. . . .
The Wonderlanders explained that for one week they had done ALL the
things asked of them, perfectly, without complaint, had turned over
ALL the prizes and money to their respective families, the vendors,
those involved with their particular events, had done very well.
But no one had really thanked them very much, and no one had really
noticed whether or not they were enjoying their skating. . .
For the other week, they had simply skated. . .albeit away from the
eyes of anyone but themselves and their friends. . .as they had for
many days and nights before they had become so famous. They had to
say, for the record, that they enjoyed the second week much more.
They offered to skate in public every other week, and not to keep a
cent for themselves, just so they could skate alone for themselves.
They offered to skate in public on the weekends, 9 times out of 10,
and not to keep a cent for themselves, just so they could be alone,
skating for themselves, or just living, the rest of the time.
There was not even a mummer of approval from amongst the vendors or
the parents. . .who wanted control virtually all of the time.
And so the Wonderlanders came to a fateful decision. . . .
They would skate as much in public as was expected. . .and lull the
parents and vendors into a state of false complacency. . .while the
time was spent perfecting their plans for a permanent escape, as it
was now a decade since this had all begun, and every one of them in
the group should have long since started their own life and family.
They found places to skate that were several times more remote than
their most secret places to date. They made arrangements with some
people near there for food and housing. . .people so far from their
homes that they only knew of them by name. . .and they never, never
used their real names.
Their lessons of privacy were learned well. . .and over a period of
10 years. . .yet they practiced the art of privacy even more. . .to
spread out their sources of supplies, and the times when they would
need them, and how many were being supplied. They masqueraded as a
band of wandering gypsies, working hard in the fields in summer and
making sure they looked nothing like the pales ice-creatures all of
the world knew them as. They pretended to be part of a much larger
band of gypsies, who lived even more in secret, then they would buy
only from those who would not reveal them, and would only pay extra
for the secrecy when they came back for supplies the next time.
Finally. . .the time was right. . . .
At the end of one year's run of Winter Carnivals and Festivals they
announced they would give their own event, and invited everyone.
The vendors were invited both to watch AND to profit, and they even
hired other outside vendors to work for them so they would watch in
even more detail.
And then. . .they gave the performances of their lives. . . .
They made sure EVERYONE was there, and the skated their hearts out.
Moves no one had ever seen, or would ever see again, were made in a
manner that showed months or years of heartfelt practice, and every
such move was dedicated to a particular friend or loved-one in that
audience that day.
Every friend and family member had a move named after them that day
. . .a day every one of them remembered all their lives.
Every friend and family member, and even the vendors, were taken on
the ice and presented with prizes and money, and told how much they
were loved or appreciated by the Wonderlanders.
And finally, when all was said and done, the Wonderlanders went out
on the ice and set their candles down, as they had done for years--
in private--and let everyone see how they skated for themselves.
They skated the moves THEY liked best, in the ways THEY liked best.
And. . .as each Wonderlander finished his or her part of this show,
they took off their skates, put on their shoes, and picked up their
candles, and walked out back into the forest, stating they hoped to
be back next weekend for their next performances, but they knew the
hope was in vain, that no one would let them skate for themselves.
Because this was most likely their final public performance, effort
was not spared, and many jumps and leaps and spins were carried out
in ways never seen before or since.
Finally, there were only a few Wonderlanders left, and these gave a
few performances that actually told stories; one of which suggested
that the skater was running off into the woods to live as suggested
by the use of a Pan flute as a prop and since the skater's name was
Peter, it is possible, given the nature of these performances, with
the faerie-like use of the candles, that this was the origin of the
story of Peter Pan.
After Peter had flown off with his candle, there was a girl, Belle,
who had a bell tied to her wrist, and tinkled as she skated, which,
is certainly possible was the origin of Tinkerbell, as it was known
she had affections for Peter, and was of a jealous nature.
When Belle had tinked off into the distance, there was no one left,
except Dimbovitsa. . .who was a different kind of skater than most,
leaving most of the leaps and jumps to the more athletic of ability
and inclination. . .and followed her heart more in the direction of
art and sculpture. . .concentrating on long graceful glides over an
expanse of ice. . .and on exquisite positioning of arm and leg in a
graceful combination further accentuated by her motion.
And she could spin. . . .
Sometimes she was such a blur you would think no force on Earth may
ever be able to stop her, trying to count the number of times round
and round she went was as much a topic for people such as scholarly
mathematicians and philosophers as for those who actually saw spins
that night that actually left them dazed.
Her balance that night was such that she could hold a spin from one
position to the next, only slightly pulling in one arm or leg to do
enough conservation of momentum to even further the illusion of the
spinning lasting forever.
Since this was the last performance of the year, temperatures would
be naturally rising, and the sun would be rising earlier every day,
which had been calculated by the Wonderlanders, who had now lived a
decade or more in these woods, and could tell you to the day if the
ice would melt or not.
And today turned out to be a very special day indeed, moreso than I
would bet any of the Wonderlanders actually knew.
They had all stayed up so long, and it was so late in the Spring, a
sure thing was that some of this audience would not be getting home
before dawn, and most would at least see the lightening sky.
But this day was special. . .for so many reasons. . . .
The Wonderlanders had placed their torches and candles is just such
a way that each of them melted most of the ice used by each of them
in their performances, so that by the time they had waited out each
final applause, and then taken their candle with them into the edge
of the darkness, their own patch of ice was very much melted away.
As Dimbovitsa spun and spun, she melted away each of the last edges
of ice remaining. . .until she was spinning on the only piece left,
and as her candle grew shorter and shorter, she took on more of the
appearance of a faerie, apparently flying over the ground suspended
just a little. . .by her skates.
Finally she entered her last spins, designed to take her over those
few remaining patches of ice that remained, lit only by her single,
very low candle. . .and each set of spins reduced one more piece of
ice to slush. . .a slush that would look like mud in the sunrise.
And so. . .as she completed her performance, put on her shoes, went
off in the darkness, it appeared the sun would be coming up shortly
. . .so many of the audience simply waited for the sunrise to start
their trip home. . .the Eastern sky lightened. . .but the sun would
not appear for more than an hour. . .it was the aurora borealis, or
the northern lights, that were lighting up the sky, and which, even
more than the Wonderlanders had planned, made their illusion a very
much greater success than they had planned.
From inside the shade grove of their practice pond, the sky was not
terribly visible, even in the daytime, so it is not hard to realize
how much the northern lights looked brighter than the darkness of a
grove of trees.
By the time the sun really did come up the pond had totally melted.
And the illusion was complete. . .where there had been ice skating,
now was a lake. . .the lake they now call Lake Dimbovitsa. . .after
the last of the Wonderlanders who skated their that night.
***
So many people came and went in so many directions that night and a
period of the first few hours of the following morning, that it was
impossible to follow any tracks a week later, when people began the
realization that the Wonderlanders were not coming back.
Lots of things were done to find them, but nearly all had been well
prepared for, and the addition of spring rains, a quick thaw, a lot
of mud travelled by a lot of people, made it even more impossible a
task to find someone who had already gone to great pains not to be.
Who, in a camp of gypsies might recognize that the hooks from which
pots of stew were hanging looked something like skate blades? Who,
in their right might thinks of skate blades being any other than in
bright, shiny silver? These black sooty hooks were on all of these
fires, all looked the same. . .just black sooty hooks.
There were some efforts to follow the major bands of gypsies for an
extra year or two, but these were in such a small band, that anyone
would know an entire band of ice-skaters could not hide within. It
would have been just too obvious. No one considered that the whole
band of dark-skinned gypsies might be ice-skaters. But they were.
***
***
If you want to see where I live in Romania, just find a decent map--
look to the upper left very near Bucharest, and there is the lake.
Follow the Dimbovita [the t is really a ts] River toward town, it is
going to go right through the middle of town.
As it approaches town it turns very slightly to the right, and, then
again very slightly to the left.
Then more strongly to the right.
That's it. . .don't turn to the right there. . .go just another bit,
the same direction the river was flowing, and you should find a mark
for a church. Our windows look out right over that church.
***
In closing, back to the ballet for a moment. . . .
Many of you may be familiar with this ballet under a different name:
Giselle, or Giselle of the Willys, as it is more properly called. A
few changes have been made, but with anything approaching traditions
of choreographing Giselle over the years, it is still obvious that a
great many of the traditional postures, motions or symbolic gestures
in Giselles throughout the years are actually the postures, motions,
and other gestures more commonly associated with ice skating. Quick
reflection, even for those of you who haven't seen it for years will
remind you that the opening sequences of the Willys are in fact some
ice skaters out in a pond in the woods, and that they are obviously,
and basically in a practice session for themselves. . .practicing in
a series of long glides you only see in ice skating. . .and switched
footings that only take place in ice skating. . .which. . .once this
becomes obvious to you, explains the extremely awkward nature of the
opening moves in Giselle, moves that are totally natural in skating,
but were difficult in translation to ballet.
Of course, there is the addition of a romantic theme, one which I am
sad to say I had to leave out of the version I related above, but on
some future occasion I may do another version that includes it. The
basics are that a few of the skaters are enamoured with Dimbovitsa--
and at least one of the townspeople--most notably one of those whose
role is to bring materials for torches to the hidden practice sites,
and who, after watching for years, eventually makes some suggestions
to Dimbovitsa, which lead to some of the new moves that come from an
assortment of these practice sessions over the years. It later came
to her attention that these suggestions were rooted in paintings the
boy would make of her from memory, and once she saw the paintings, a
new respect for what the boy had in mind was born, and a new respect
for his talent, and a dim, but growing awareness of the attention he
paid to her, to be able to paint her in such beautiful details, from
memory. The paintings rarely actually showed the skates themselves,
as he often portrayed her as a faery floating above the ice, in much
the same ways as others imagined her, but this in more concrete form
. . .a form that may well have been the root of the Giselle ballet.
If you actually extrapolate from such paintings, it becomes obvious,
in the extreme, that the choreography, costumes, set and setting all
are in reality those of the practice sessions of the Wonderlanders.
***
One more detail. . .after years of searching for the Wonderlanders--
the name slowly changed to Neverlanders. . .as their neighbors found
less and less reason to hope they would ever be found.
***
And yet. . .so they say. . .if you go out into the woods in a Spring
or Fall that is coming or staying late. . .they say you can see them
. . .the Wonderlanders, Neverlanders, or Willys. . .floating above a
wispy swamp or pond or even a small lake. . .and just think for only
a moment of the water actually being ice. . .and. . .there they are!
End of
Poems and Tales from Romania, by Simona Sumanaru and Michael Hart
(C) 1999-2000 by Simona Sumanaru and Michael Hart