NGI Recipient: Sarah Hirsch
Session Attended: Country Dance and Song Society - Harmony of Song and Dance (2021)
First off: thank you! Thank you, thank you.
I couldn’t seem to sit down to write this, somehow. And by somehow, I think I know exactly why, actually. It’s because it’s the final bit on a beautiful thing that now means it’s over, and we have no clear idea of when the next such moment will be. You know? You know.
Harmony Week was this gift of connection and catharsis in what has been a truly, uniquely horrible year. I won’t over-explain what this bad context is; I think everyone has their versions of it. And what made everything worse was our respective isolation from each other. Then, coming together in the woods to sing in chorus and hold hands — I’m seldom at a loss for words, but I can’t fully express just how much that made me feel.
(Well, there is a Yiddish word for it: verklempt. Overwhelmed with a surfeit of emotion. Just…awash. Sloppy cry and laugh. Hot mess. All of that.)
Singing together in particular is what made the week, for me. It was a return to choral singing that had been on pause for many years, just because life-in-my-twenties demanded things other than rehearsal time, and I hadn’t realized just how much I missed it. Drawing in breath together, blending voices, weaving lines of beautiful text to create something larger and more complex together — I mean. Right?? That staff too, mmmm.
My second favorite thing was swimming in Round Pond about 3-5 times a day, naked and delighted. That’s just perfection.
So, thank you, sincerely, so so much. This was a much appreciated lift, and a little time away from the worries and weight that were starting to feel ordinary. Recentering on joy and connection and music — and harmony, if I may — is so important, and such a gift. Thank you.