It has been several weeks and I am haunted daily by the news of Larry's death.  I can't get it out of my mind that he is no longer with us, and I keep hoping that his death was quick and pain-free.  Why, when I didn't know him all that well, am I so upset by it?  He must have meant more to me (and to others in the folk dancing "family") than I (we all) had appreciated.  I wish I had known that when he was alive, and expressed it to him.

    Although I knew him in two decidedly different contexts -- as a faculty member at UWM, and as a folk dancer -- I got to know his personality better through folk dancing than through my limited contact with him at UWM.  (This says something about the value of folkdancing, by the way.) Larry's virtuosity as a dancer revealed his extraordinary passion for dance as well as his passion for excellence. Watching him dance was such a pleasure: it inspired awe for his energy and style, it made me want to dance better myself, and I took greater pleasure myself
in my own dancing, especially when I was dancing next to him in line dances.  (That's what dancing with excellent dancers does to you, as I think all folk dancers know.)

    He was an excellent dance teacher as well. Most of my (limited) repertoire of difficult Bulgarian dances are dances I learned from him. In folk dancing, the person who teaches a given dance is then forever linked in the learner's mind with that dance; and the one who taught the dance is often the one who leads the dance on subsequent occasions.  The taught dance then becomes that person's (the teacher’s) dance.   So most of the difficult dances in my repertoire are "Larry's dances"; how can I do them if Larry is not around to lead them, and inspire wonderful dancing?

    We learn from this horrible event to appreciate our fellow folk dancers more, for they bring more pleasure to us than we ever consciously understand.  I am sorry we have to learn it from Larry's passing.

     The only other productive thing we can do now is to celebrate Larry’s life, a life which gave not only him but many other people pleasure in many different settings – music, dance, art and
architecture, teaching – and let Larry’s example of deriving and giving joy in a wide range of experiences inspire joy in our own lives.

    Jessica Wirth, Milwaukee Tuesday Night Folkdancer
    August 28, 2000
 

Jessica Wirth - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
gjwirth@execpc.com