Bare Hug

I began work this week on a new story for my repertoire—a glorious Hawaiian myth about impassioned searching, enduring love, and the reuniting of splintered psyche. And because I’ve been seeking a more informed understanding of the way in which emotional “sense” is carried and communicated through vocal “sound,” I’ve been listening to music on my I-Tunes, a collection of my favorite songs. U2’s “Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World” stood out on a number of levels and made me think of the essential desire of art and artist to “embrace.” The OED notes “embrace” as deriving not just from to “clasp in the arms, enfold” but also to “covet, handle, cope with.” “Hug” carries the element of “to think” (O.E.) and “hugga” to "comfort" as derived from “hugr" meaning “courage or mood” (O.N.). And certainly, to fully embrace anything requires heart, head and arms—all three of which I’m trying to incorporate into my choreography of this story.