Dancing Badly All Over the World
Matt Harding, a native of Connecticut, was working as a video-game designer in Australia. In his early 20’s, he found his work “insulating.” So he decided to quit his job and travel the world with a couple of friends. On a whim, his friends took videos of him dancing in front of one famous landmark after another. Matt is not a dancer. One observer described Matt’s kind of dance as “an awkward limb-flailing dance of joy.”
Matt uploaded these short clips of him dancing to his website for his family and friends. A few videos later, Matt’s dancing went viral. But he soon got bored dancing alone, so he sought other people to dance with him. He now has produced several videos with him dancing with people all over the globe. This is how Matt describes what he does: “I travel all over the world dancing badly with people.” He now has a few corporate sponsors who help pay for his travel and video production. In 2010, Time included one of his videos among the top 50 videos to watch. And two years later, the New York Times called his 2012 video “a masterpiece.”
In the 2012 video (which I have included below) Matt dances in 71 locations, in 55 countries, and 11 U.S. states. (Yes, Clevelanders, he even came to our fair city and dances in front of the Free Stamp! Watch for it!) Matt sometimes dances in the style of the country he’s in. Other times he teaches the group or large crowd a few movements of dances he knows. The end of this video shows him simply dancing in his own backyard in Seattle with his wife and small son.
Matt has danced all over the world—even underwater and in zero-gravity. Sometimes he says he has to speed up or slow down the film of the dance to fit the beat of the music. When he danced with a few women in Syria, he decided to blur their faces. Men and 
women don’t dance together in some cultures so he was just “playing it safe.”
Someone asked him what places he’d like to go to or revisit. He named a few lesser known countries, adding, “The places I know the least about I find the most interesting and exciting.” Lately his traveling has tapered off a bit because he now has two young sons. But he’s not finished with his dancing yet. He says, “Soon my boys will be old enough to travel.”
I came upon Matt Harding’s videos by chance and I really enjoyed them. They show people all over the world united in one common endeavor: dance! The dancing brought a smile to my face. Even though I, like Matt, dance badly (except for the polka!), I still love to dance and I enjoy watching others dance—whether they dance badly or beautifully!
Here’s Matt Harding’s 2012 video. The song is “Trip the Light.” The music was composed by Garry Schyman and the lyrics were written by Alicia Lemke and Matt Harding. The song is sung by Lemke. The second video is just the song with the lyrics.
Here is the song with the lyrics:
What do you think of Matt’s video? Any responses to the song? We’d love to hear from you!
PS: Last Saturday I gave a morning of reflection to 80 church ministers at St. John Neumann Parish in Strongsville, OH. I really enjoyed meeting and interacting with these generous volunteers! My next talk will be on Monday, December 5, at St. Paschal Parish in Highland Heights, OH. I will speak from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM on “Unwrapping the Gifts of Advent: Courage, Love, and Hope.”
Alexander Hamilton
This week the citizens of the United States will be electing new leadership on the national, state, and local levels. Interestingly, for the past few weeks, I have been reading Ron Chernow’s biography, Alexander Hamilton. The massive book (it’s 818 pages long) has won numerous awards. And it is the book upon which the extremely popular hip-hop musical, Hamilton, is based. (The play won 11 Tony Awards.) The book describes the origins of the United States, focusing particularly on Alexander Hamilton. In doing so, the book sheds light on current events in this country 240 years after its founding.
I won’t go into detail about the book, but I will share a few things that stood out for me. 
First, Alexander Hamilton was a truly amazing man. Born in the British West Indies, he was orphaned and destitute by age eighteen, yet he became a successful businessman a few years later. He emigrated to the Colonies in his early twenties and immediately threw himself into the fight for independence. By age 22 he was George Washington’s chief of staff who organized the Revolutionary Army and who also fought bravely in battle.
After the war Hamilton became a successful New York lawyer and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. A prolific writer, he wrote most of the Federalist Papers, a series of 58 essays that is still revered as one of the best commentaries on the U.S. Constitution ever written. In 1780 he married Elizabeth Schuyler from one of the richest and most politically influential families in New York. They had eight children. President Washington named Hamilton the first Secretary of Treasury. In that cabinet position, Hamilton became one of Washington’s closest advisors. He also designed the country’s financial and economic systems that still exist today.
The book gave me a renewed appreciation of the genius of Hamilton and our founding fathers: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, to name a few. But despite their brilliance and nobility, most of these men were flawed. They were regularly characterized by jealousy, meanness, pettiness, and duplicity. They subscribed, for example, to those beautiful words, “All men are created equal,” but many of them were slave owners. And Hamilton himself, though he could be extremely devoted to his wife and children, carried on a lengthy affair with another mans’ wife.
Our founding fathers, often at odds with one another, published scathing articles against one other. Among Hamilton’s enemies were Jefferson, Adams, and Aaron Burr, the vice-president under Jefferson who eventually killed Hamilton in a duel. (Our libel laws were originally designed to deter dueling. If someone slandered you, instead of taking their life, you could take their money.)
The book describes the origin of the two party system, the growth of Wall Street (Hamilton actually lived on Wall Street while it was still a dirt road), and the deep differences between the North and South—especially concerning slavery. The founders glossed over the issue of slavery in order to establish the new nation. Some of them naively hoped that the slavery issue would just go away. They did not foresee the horrific Civil War that would erupt a few decades later and almost rip their young nation in two. And to this day our headlines remind us that we are still dealing with the aftermath of this grave injustice.
But what does all of this have to do with spirituality? First, history recounts our human
capacity for goodness and nobility while also reminding us of our potential for evil and injustice. This “law” applies to ourselves as individuals and to society in general. Secondly, history proves that grave injustices cannot be ignored. They must be addressed. And thirdly, as Christians we believe that our God is involved in human history—not outside of it. That’s precisely what discernment is all about. It’s our attempt to detect and respond to the Spirit’s movement in the specific circumstances of our time and place.
The song today is “America the Beautiful” sung by Annie Karto. I hope my non-American readers won’t mind listening to this lovely song. No matter what country we call home, we must be aware of our countries’ flaws as well as our countries’ beauty and achievements.
Does anything in this reflection stand out for you?
What makes you proud of your country? What are your country’s flaws?
I welcome your response!
PS: After reading the first two comments to this blog, I decided to include here Joan Baez singing “This Is My Home” (“Finlandia.”)
PS: On another level, I extend my congratulations to all you Chicago Cub fans out there on your World Series win. You waited a long time for this championship. And I extend my sympathy to all Cleveland Indian fans (of which I am a member!) Maybe next year!
Chance Happening—or Something More?
Here is a true story. Is it a chance happening? Or is it something more? You decide.
In 1992 I moved to Detroit to minister in the Jesuit novitiate. One day one of my Jesuit friends, Tim, asked me if I’d like to go out to dinner. He had received a gift card for a certain restaurant “out in the boonies.” The card was over a year old so he didn’t even know if it was still valid.
“I’d love to go,” I said. “When?” After going back and forth for possible days, we decided on Thursday of that week. It was winter. If the weather was bad, we would go on Friday.
Thursday came and so did the bad weather. In fact, it snowed pretty heavily all afternoon, but we decided we’d chance it anyway. As we neared the restaurant, the snow got even worse. But we figured we were almost there, so we kept going.
When we got to the restaurant, it was already dark. The parking lot was full of deep snow but empty of cars. We feared the place was closed, but it wasn’t. A waiter showed us to a table by the fireplace at the far end of the restaurant. We sat down, ordered, talked, and then began to enjoy our meal. We were the only two people in the restaurant.
As we were finishing up, a woman came in and sat at a table near the door, far from us. A few minutes later another woman came in, the two hugged each other excitedly, and then sat down together. Now there were four people in the restaurant.
When Tim and I finished our meal we got up to leave. In order to do that, we had to walk right by the women’s table. As we did, one of the women called out, “Father Tim!” She was a parishioner at a parish where Tim sometimes helped out with Mass on the weekends. Tim introduced us. “Melannie, this is Mary Ann Ryan…Mary Ann, this is Sister Melannie.” He just happened not to use my last name. As we talked, she kept staring at me. After a few moments she said, “You look very familiar.” I said, “I’m not from the Detroit area. I’m from Cleveland.” She said, “I’m from Cleveland too.” We named our high schools and colleges and saw no connection.
After a few more minutes she said, “Do you know a Dolly Svoboda.” (Dolly is my 
nickname.)
I was aghast. “I am Dolly Svoboda,” I said.
The woman screamed, “Dolly, it’s me—Mary Ann Czech!” As soon as she said her maiden name, I recognized her. I began to scream too. We began hugging each other and jumping up and down—while Tim and Mary Ann’s friend stared in amazement. Then we explained. My Aunt Mae lived near East 65th street in Cleveland. When I was a little girl, I would go “on vacation” to her house. Mary Ann lived across the street. She and I used to play together. My Aunt moved to Florida when I was in 7th grade, so I never saw Mary Ann after that. We lost track of each other. She had heard that I entered the convent, but she didn’t know which order or my “nun name.” Yet here we were, 35 years later, in a restaurant near Detroit meeting each other again—against incredible odds!
Later I reflected all the “chance happenings” that made this reunion possible: Tim received the gift card for this particular restaurant. Not another one. He asked me to go with him and not someone else. We just happened to pick that particular Thursday. We kept driving despite the bad weather. Mary Ann and her friend had picked that restaurant and that Thursday by chance too. They too kept driving despite the snow. We were the only four people in the restaurant that night. Tim and I had to walk by their table to leave. If Mary Ann had not recognized Tim and called out to him, we would have walked right by their table. If Mary Ann had not recognized me, we would have parted never knowing we had just met a childhood friend.
I lived in Detroit for six years. During that time Mary Ann and I rekindled our friendship. Despite our differences (she was a wife, mother, and nurse while I was a nun, teacher, and writer) we found we still have much in common and enjoy each other as much as when played together as children.
Chance happening? Coincidence? Or something more? I know where I stand. I think God wanted the two of us to meet again and God, the Great Choreographer, arranged our reunion in that restaurant in Detroit on that snowy night.
Our song is “Without Seeing You” by David Haas. It captures that great religious truth that God is with us in the ordinary and extraordinary events of our daily lives.
Have you ever experienced a “coincidence” that you felt was orchestrated by God?
Does anything in this story stand out for you?
I invite you to share a thought with us. We are enriched by the responses from our readers…
PS: I thoroughly enjoyed my retreat. More later!
Bedroom Slippers
The other evening, I was sitting in my P.J.’s in my chair and I happened to glance down at my feet and noticed my bedroom slippers. That got me to thinking about bedroom slippers. Who invented them? How many people in the world wear them? And why? This reflection grew out of those questions. (more…)
We're Moving!
If you’re reading this on your computer, you’re probably sitting down. You might perceive yourself as being stationary. But you aren’t. In fact, every time you think you are not moving, you are wrong. Very wrong. The truth is, you are moving at an incredible speed—every minute of every day. (more…)
