The Bear Dance, William Holbrook Beard, circa 1870

In addition to paintings, there are multiple quotations that reference dancing bears. This one may be the most well known, but it is not the reason for the name of this blog.

If you invite a bear to dance, it’s not you who decides when the dance is over. It’s the bear.

Russian proverb

It’s somewhat amazing how many references there are to dancing bears. There is a ceremonial “bear dance” – a tradition of the Ute Indians associated with the arrival of spring. There is the book Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy that contains this passage: “One by one they will step down into the darkness before the footlamps. Bears that dance, bears that don’t.” Dancing bears are even referenced in Madame Bovary. But I’ll stop there.

Welcome to the journey.

This blog will simply contain various posts that are of interest to me. Anyone is welcome to comment, but this is mainly a personal record of my thoughts on various subjects.

It’s not that the bear dances well but that the bear can dance at all.

Another Russian proverb

Most of us will never dance well but the joy is in dancing at all. There is pleasure in wearing a baseball glove or putting fingers on a piano keyboard or learning the language of the family next door. Great skill may increase the pleasure but probably not all that much. Doing is better than watching. Join the bear dance.