Gennetines

Mud. And Music. Those were the themes of this last weekend. We left Paris at 5PM to arrive at the small village of Gennetines (pop. about 600) at 10PM. Then we needed to find a place to park amongst the winding country roads and cattle fields. Done, but it was about 2km away. Next came the tent. It was dark, and it had been raining, so he needed to find a flat, relatively dry spot. I don't know how he did it in the dark, but he set up the tent pretty quickly. It was a beautifully clear night, and I could hear the strains of European Folk music from 5 different groups melding as thousands of dancers twirled the night away from some distant field.

I saw two shooting stars that night, so I made two wishes, one for his happiness and one for mine.

After the folly of establishing our home for the weekend, the dancing could begin! I jumped right in, and dancing until 3am. This was the evening of the bourrée. I danced 2 memorable ones, and even a good polka. I never dance a good polka; I underestimate it too much. There were no good scottishes, though, except after the Sunday workshop. I learned a boatload of variations. If we end up dancing a scottish as our wedding dance, it is going to be amazing.

There were musicians everywhere, dancers everywhere. I am firmly resolved to begin playing the vielle à roue (hurdy gurdy) once I have the funds to buy one! They are extremely rare in the US, less so in France, but still difficult to find. And expensive. But man are they beautiful. Same goes for the accordion, but since I prefer the vielle, I will try for that one first.

We learned the dance I have been waiting 3 years to learn--the polska. It's a Swedish dance, quite slow and dignified, and always graceful if you do it correctly! It's rare to see it at balls, but it is quite breathtaking to see two dancers glide then begin to turn effortlessly on the dance floor. He made a good effort, it's a dance we will have to work on a bit more before perfecting it.

Mud. It was a veritable mud bath. The first evening, I stepped in puddles everywhere because it was dark and the puddles were black as everything else around. It was useless to take a shower because once I stepped out of the cold/lukewarm water, my sandaled feet needed to pick their way over muddy terrain to return to my tent or the festival. I just stopped caring. It felt good to have some earth between my toes anyway.

Food? Of course we ate!! Those were the best sandwiches ever! And even better, he had brought some corn on the cob to grill. Ah happiness.

Of course, with a total of 10 hours of driving and I don't know how many hours of dancing that weekend, we were both exhausted when we arrived home, no to mention dirty. That was one of the best showers of my life! And my large bowl of pasta covered in cheese was perfect. All of this was done with the drone of the vielle and the punctuated tones of the accordion choreographing my movements. I bought two CDs, "Repliques" by the excellent group DJAL and a CD from the group Frères de Sac because they had a polska. I actually prefer the one from Frères de Sac because their music is more traditional. DJAL plays a lot with different tonalities and phrases, but I think they've lost some melody compared to their other two CDs. Oh well. They are both wonderful additions to my collection.

I find that I prefer the music at the festivals more than the dancing. I am just itching to get my hands on a vielle, just wait. One day!!

In the meantime, I do need to get all this dirt from between my toes.