Thursday, November 20, 2008

Ropi Survives Pálotas

For months now, Ropi, an 18 year old high school student in Budapest, has been blogging about the agony of preparing to dance the Pálotas, a traditional Hungarian dance, at a school performance. The tales of stepping on his partner's feet have been tucked in between accounts of ancient Roman history, scores on math tests, his thoughts about his somewhat cool personality and what others say about it, and what he will do when he gets out of school. It's a blog I follow regularly because it is so charmingly mixes maturity well beyond his 18 years with honest, age appropriate concerns about life, girls, parents, and the future. The look of his blog changes too, reflecting his own experimenting with who he is and could be.

So I was delighted when he posted this video of the dance. There is something very universal, in 2008, of a school dance in a decorated gymnasium, with parents taking shaky videos of their kids' performances. (Yes, there are places where kids don't even go to school, let alone have video cameras, but there are also many places where they do.) Ropi is the tallest kid in his class and he's wearing blue. I think he's right there in the beginning with his back to us.


3 comments:

  1. My six year old saw his pic at his blog the other day and fell in love, eyelash batting blushes! She asked if he was a general and I said, "No, he is a dancer."

    She was so happy and clasped her hands together, "A general who dances!"

    The younger kids were dancing to this video as they watched it. Way too cute! I've loved following this. That gym could be anywhere. . .

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  2. That gym wasn't our school gym. Yes you are right I am that guy. However in the other bilingual class there is a taller guy than me.

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  3. Tea, hmmm, 12 years difference isn't that great, but can Ropi wait that long?

    Ropi, Thanks for the clarification. Whose gym is it? Is the school gym too small?

    ReplyDelete

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